


Adventure Time with Pen and Bartram feat the Ice Prince

by MorenoX25



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 09:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 41,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8156560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorenoX25/pseuds/MorenoX25
Summary: After the Lich was unleashed and a meteor struck the Earth, the Land of Ooo was created. This is where the heroic duo Pen and Bartram live. What they don't know is that there is a relation between them and a certain ruler of the Ice Kingdom.





	1. Prologue

It was almost like any other day on the Grass lands in the land of Ooo, or more precisely inside the Mertens house. Home of the great hero Pen and his loyal companion Bartram the mule.

But what made this day different from any other day? Well, today it was an extremely hot day.

"Man! It's so hot today!"- said the young human hero to his mule friend. Pen was sitting on the couch inside the living room, with Bartram sitting next to him.

It has been a long morning of chores and farm work fir the both of them. Pen couldn't complain, because the farm was the primary income for the family (aside for the occasional treasure that Pen and Bartram found in their adventures). And after finishing all his chores both him and Bartram were very tired from working under the blazing sun.

Bartram the mule nodded his head in agreement with his friend. He too felt that the house was too hot for comfort.

"I wish there was something to refresh ourselves with!" - Pen kept complaining while fanning himself with an old fan from his mother. He had already checked on the fridge and there were no cold drinks for them to enjoy.

Both heroes sat there for a while, not knowing what to do. That is until Bartram stood up, walked towards the open window and stuck out his head as if trying to point at something.

"What is it Bar Bar?"- Pen walked next to Bartram trying to see what his friend was pointing at. –"The Ice Kingdom? Yes, that's a great idea! You're a genius Bar Bar!" -The boy went rapidly to his room to collect his adventure backpack and famous yellow hat that covers his light brown hair.

"I better pack a sweater, mom will kill me if I catch a cold"- The young boy still remembered the last time it was cold and didn't took a sweater alongside him. He ended up sick and his mother grounded him, but only when he began feeling better.

Then Pen remembered that his mom hadn't arrived yet from her visit to the Candy Kingdom, which was located very near from where the farm was.

"I should leave a note, I don't want mom to worry." That was also another lesson he learned the hard way. After he wrote the note, he left it on the fridge and went outside, ready for an exciting day!

Pen jumped on Bartram and the two of them rode to the Ice Kingdom.

After Pen and Bartram were halfway to their destination, Mrs. Mertens arrived from her shopping trip from the Candy Kingdom. Sure it was strange how the world had changed so radically from what she and her husband were accustomed to.

From normal humans to candy people, talking animals and other kind of strange and mystical creatures, but she saw it happen with her own eyes, the day that foul essence covered the world and when that meteorite struck the earth causing mutations at an accelerated rate.

The world would have been in complete chaos if it weren't for the appearance of leaders that created the kingdoms that now covered the new land of Ooo.

As for humanity, her husband and she established a home and a little farm on the Grass lands and sent out a message around Ooo in search of other human survivors. That was 12 years ago and they never found any.

Sure, there were humanoids with strange color skins and other characteristics, but as far as the Mertens family knew they were the only "normal" humans left.

But in the end life in the land of Ooo although strange was better than living with fear under the tyranny of the Destiny Gang.

"Pen! Honey, I´m home!"- Mrs. Mertens said while carrying all the supplies she bought in the Candy Kingdom. Mrs. Mertens really liked her visits to the Candy Kingdom. The citizens were always friendly with her and her family and travelling between the house and the kingdom was short and more importantly safe.

"Where is that boy? He better not be out there having adventures before finishing his chores"- It would seem strange for a mother to let her son have adventures in the strange and dangerous land of Ooo. But Mr. and Mrs. Mertens had noticed that their son was incredible strong and agile for a boy his age. Her husband had theorized that it was a possible side effect from the mutations that created Ooo, and if that was the case the Mertens still loved their son Pen all the same.

Also not only Pen was strong, he was brave and righteous, he could never stand doing nothing when people needed help. A trait which she had no idea how or where he got it from, but nevertheless she was proud of her son.

Thanks to their son, her husband and she had met a lot of good people that became family friends; like Tree Trunks, that sweet elephant who bakes delicious apple pies; And even royalty, like Bubblegum Princess ruler of the Candy Kingdom, whom Pen has helped and saved a few times.

Being a Hero was a big part of Pen's life so she couldn't deny him the need for adventure and heroism but that didn't mean she wasn't worried every time Pen went out with Bartram adventuring or that he could do go out without finishing his chores first.

"Where did that boy go this time?"- Mrs. Mertens wondered out-loud before noticing a note on the fridge. Pen would usually wait for her or his father's permission before going out on any adventure, but if there was an emergency and they weren't present Pen would usually write them a note explaining where he was.

> _" Mom,_
> 
> _Bartram and I went to the Ice kingdom to play._
> 
> _P.S. I already finished my chores._
> 
> _P.S S Yes, I have a sweeter._
> 
> _Love, Pen."_

After reading the letter Mrs. Mertens gasped in fear. Of all the places he could go, he had to go there. Quickly she ran outside the house with worry on her face. "PEN! PEN!" She called out for him but she was too late they were already far long gone.

Mrs. Mertens put her hands together intertwining her fingers and prayed to the sky. "Please God, I beg you, please don't let Pen meet ´him'! Please, let him out of the Ice Prince's sight. Don't let him meet his brother".


	2. Prisoners of Love

After arriving to the Ice kingdom Pen and Bartram were having a lot fun in the snow. Form making snow angels and having snow ball fights to sliding down the snow hills, (Pen in an office chair and Bartram in a broken ironing board they found in the snow). It really was a lot of fun.

As they slid down the hill with their poor man's version of snowboards, they gained more speed and momentum, making dodging obstacles more and more difficult each passing second.

"Bar Bar! Watch out for the penguins!"- Pen yelled at his incredible skilled friend (who would've guess that a Mule could snowboard like that!) as they slid through a horde of penguins, who were sent flying out like bowling pins after a strike as the duo passed through them.

"Sorry, our bad!"

The duo's joyride, fun as it was, had to came to an end. And that end came when both heroes slid off from a cliff into the air, soar the sky like bullets until they fell into the snow below creating a crater by the sheer force of their landing.

Unfortunately for both adventurers, they landed next to the very ruler of the Ice kingdom: the unsociable, cold hearted and for some people evil, Ice Prince.

Before their fall, the Ice Prince was busy searching through the snow for treasures and other junk to bring back to the castle. But his search was interrupted by a torrent of snow that fell on top of him and buried him completely.

Normally Ice prince wouldn't have minded being buried in snow. But today's search was different, much more important than other days. So when his important task was interrupted so suddenly, it made him really annoyed.

Grumping his way out of the snow, the ruler of the Ice Kingdom unburied himself completely and turned around looking for the people responsible for the interruption.

"Hhm. What do we have here" - the prince said when he found a boy wearing yellow hat (1) with a familiar- looking set of dog ears. Also next to the boy was a brown mule that sent a sense of familiarity to his very core, but the blue skinned prince couldn't exactly pint point the reason so he decided to ignore it for now in favor of confronting the two trespassers.

"Who dares to enter the Ice Kingdom?" – announced the prince catching the attention of both heroes.

"Huh?"- was the only sound that Pen uttered when he finally notice the person talking to them over the crater.

It was a young blue skinned man with very long white hair and over his head was a golden crown that showed his status as royalty. He also wore a blue cape with golden shoulder pads. Underneath the cape the blue man wore a blue long sleeved shirt and pants that were tattered around the ankles and he wasn't wearing shoes or socks.

"My name is Pen Mertens and this is my friend Bartram, he is a mule." Pen introduced them both and then asked -"Who are you?"- Pen tried to be as friendly and respectful as possible, just like his mom taught him when meeting new people.

For a strange reason after hearing their names, The Prince felt a very sharp pain on his head.

'That was strange!' the prince thought after the pain faded away. It just came and went so suddenly, that had never happened to him before.

Forgetting about the strange pain for the time being, the icy prince turned his attention back to the trespassers

"You dare to talk to me like that? Don't you know who I am? I am the ruler of this kingdom! The master of ice and snow! I am the ICE PRINCE!"- Pen was taken aback by the monologue that was the Ice Prince introduction. Pen was only trying to be friendly, so there was no reason for the blue prince to yell at them and sound so mean.

"Now that you know who I am, tell me what are you two doing trespassing my property?"- The Ice prince continued to press the boy for answers, making himself look like a jerk.

"Sorry, man! We are only playing in the snow trying to beat the heat!"- Pen said truthfully. It was better to tell the truth, and maybe that way the prince would calm a little and won't act like a jerk.

The Ice prince only got more annoyed even though he got an answer to his rude question. –"I don't care! This is my domain and you just can't come here as you please and mess around with my snow. Those are my rules". -

Not only the blue prince wasn't acting very prince-like, he was also very rude towards them. So Pen also getting tired of the ruler's attitude. -"Dude, your rules are lame! Why don't you try to be cool?"- Pen responded who had finally had it with the Prince's attitude.

Unfortunately for them, Pen's answer only made the Ice Prince angrier. –"Cool? I'll show you cool, you brat!"- The prince used his power over snow to create snow creatures who where under his command.

"Ice minions. Attack!"- After the order from their creator, the Ice creatures fell down the crater and started their attack.

Seeing an opportunity to kick buns and take names, Pen grinned with excitement, ready for battle!

"Ok! If a fight is what you want, that's what you get!"- Said Pen while cutting a snowman head off with a fluid slicing chop. It seemed that the snow creatures weren't too strong or resilient, being made of snow and all.

The snow creatures continued their attack, but it wasn't only Pen who was fighting back. Bartram was seeing his fair share of action too. He tackled, stomped and bucked the snow creatures as fast as they came.

"Great job Bar Bar! That was totally awesome!" – Pen congratulated his friend as they defeated the last of the snow creatures. -"Come on Ice Prince! That's the best you got?"

Pen was very excited; forget sliding or making snow castles! Fighting was always his most favorite part of adventuring. As he was enjoying their victory over the snow creatures, Pen didn't see coming the Freeze beam that Ice Prince sent to their direction, trapping the both of them into ice blocks.

"Ha! How do you like that, brat?"- Ice prince gloated to the hero duo trapped frozen in ice. -"Now, what to do with you?"- the prince wondered for a second until an idea came to mind.

Ice Prince's castle was different and unique like any other castle in the land.

First of all it was inside a hollowed out mountain. The biggest mountain in all the Ice Kingdom; and the inside was as big as the mountain itself; with tons of chambers and connecting tunnels that could take you anywhere.

Some rooms and chambers were secret or were hardly ever used, some of which were lost forever in time, or until the prince decided to have a new closet or something.

But the most impressive room of all was the Ice Prince's living room which was the most beautiful room in the entire castle and the most used; with Ice and snow adorning every wall and ceiling. The view of it all was simply majestic and worthy of a king.

Or would be, if it wasn't full of Ice Prince's personal belongings and trash scattered all over the place. Only if he cleaned once in a while, people would truly appreciate the finesse of the room.

It was a shame that the current occupants of the room couldn't appreciate the beauty of such room, because all of them were here against their will.

The four of them were not only girls but also princesses of other kingdoms. All of them captured and brought here by the horrible Ice Prince.

They had been trapped for days inside the cell jail inside the living room. They were Slime Princess, Wildberry Princess, Hot Dog Princess and Lumpy Space Princess. (2)

The four princesses were all discussing their current situation and possible ideas for escape when suddenly the Ice Prince appeared in a sled pulled by a big snow dog and carrying a block of ice with two people inside.

Were they more princesses? If so, how many more did the Prince planned to capture before he was truly satisfied?

"That's it, good job Jake"- The prince ordered his faithful snow dog to halt and after they came to a complete stop, the dog reshaped itself until it was a more normal sized for dog. (3)

"I'm back! Hello ladies!"- The prince greeted in a sweet tone that sent chills to the princesses' backs. Although the prince tried to sound sweet and playful, the four princesses had experienced first-hand his strange behavior and knew that he could explode in rage in any moment for simplest of little things.

In other words, The Prince was crazy nuts and they would never trust anything that came from his mouth.

"Now, now princesses look at what I brought you! A baby and a pet for you to play with!"- Said their abductor while pushing the block of ice off the sled and into the jail cell; breaking the ice in the process and freeing the frozen boy and mule.

The first to recognize the two frozen prisoners was Wilberry Princess -"Pen! Are you okay?" - asked concerned for the two captured heroes. Still, the presence of these two also brought back a little hope to the princesses who slowly were losing faith of ever getting out of there.

Surely now that two well-know heroes were here they would be able to set them all free.

Pen was feeling numb, so it took him a minute to recuperate and understand what the stuff happened. -"Wildberry Princess?"- she was the first one that Pen recognized and then the boy turned his head around and noticed the other captured princess.

"Hotdog Princess? Slime Princess?"- Just what the stuff was going on? What were the princesses doing here?

Almost as if she had read Pen's thoughts Slime Princess replied -"We are all prisoners! Keep inside this cell by the Ice Prince"

Pen felt anger after hearing that, he thought Ice Prince was just a jerk but kidnapping princesses put him into a whole other level of evilness.

"ICE PRINCE"- Pen yell in anger -"BIG JERK!, Why are you keeping these girls prisoner?"- Ice Prince just looked at him like he was an insignificant ant but he gave him an answer anyway.

"You are too much of a brat to understand, kiddo!"- The Prince answered using a very condescending tone that make the young hero angrier. -"I collect princesses because I want to marry one"

Pen definitely wasn't expecting that answer. Marriage?! Why would someone who wants to get married kidnap their love interest? Couldn't the prince act like his title instead of being a kidnapping jerk?

Bartram, wanting to ask something, stomp his right front leg on the ground trying to communicate with one of the few ways he knew.

Surprisingly the Ice Prince understood the rhythmic stomps and answered him -"I'm collecting them first, because I want to make the right choice for sure, marriage is long and complicated. You can't blame me for trying to make the correct choice, can you?"- The Prince said without an ounce of hesitation to the mule who apparently could communicate throughout some sort of code.

Pen now, having some time to calm down thanks to Batram's intervention, tried to reason with their captor and maybe convince the blue man that what he was doing was wrong. –"Don't do this, Ice Prince! what you are doing is wrong. Look, the girls don't like it in here, just let them go please". - Pen hoped that his words could reach the Prince, sometimes asking nicely was better than to threaten someone.

"What are you saying? Of course they like it in here"- it was amazing he could actually believe that lie. –"If they didn't like it in here I would've frozen them already"- the prince said above a whisper and the effect was better than if he had yelled it. The low tone made the threat scarier and sent a cold shiver on everyone's spines.

"What do you say Princesses? Do you like it in here or not?"- asked in a happy tone doing a complete 180° that said a lot of the prince's mental health. Dude was clearly bipolar.

All the princesses nodded and agree with their crazy captor, they didn't want to incite his wrath and end up as cube of ice. Pen couldn't blame for it, since them they were terrified of the Ice Prince and this threats.

Pen decided that now was the tome to reassure the princesses, it was better for them to stay calmed and not give into fear. -"Don't worry princesses. I pledge that Bar Bar and I will protect each and every one of you and furthermore I see all of you happily married to whatever sweet thing y'all want to be married to!"- Since he was doing a heroic pledge, the young hero tried to use as many big words he knew. He had learned some from listening to Princess Bubblegum.

The princesses all let out cries of joy, knowing that they could always count with the great hero Pen.

Pen, happy that he helped the princesses feel better, started rummaging inside his backpack searching for something that could help them escape or to beat the jerk prince with. -"How could I forget my sword back home?"- Of all the days he could've forgotten his sword it had to be that day.

Pen kept searching for something, anything remotely useful. –" Binoculars... toothbrush... quilt... sweater... trail mix... "- as he took out item after item, he started feeling worried, if he didn't find something soon, who know how long would they be trapped here.

The boy continued searching inside his backpack until he found something at the very bottom. -"Yes! My flute!"- cried out excitedly, it wasn't much but it would have to do.

Then with great speed and precision Pen threw his flute directly at the Ice Prince's face who all this time had been standing there enjoying seeing Pen struggling to come up with something.

As the projectile neared and was about to hit his grinning face, the Ice Prince reacted extremely fast and caught the projectile mid-air with his right "hand".

"My flute! How…?"- Pen didn't finish his sentence because his eyes were fixed on the "hand" that caught the flute. It wasn't a real hand or even a real arm; it was a mechanical arm similar to those that people who lost limbs used. Except this one didn't have fingers but a pincer at the end. How nobody didn't notice that before?!

"Oh! You like my arm? Well I can't tell you how I got it or how I lost my previous one but I can tell you that it is more useful and resilient than any arm made of flesh!" – For a second the Ice prince was enjoying the look of shock on Pen's face but when he noticed the stares the princesses where sending his way, he quickly hid his arm inside his blue cape.

How could he have forgotten? He didn't want them to know about his arm before the wedding. He didn't want the princesses to think less of him. And that brat had the entire fault!

"Look at what you made me do!"- The angry ruler took Pen's flute and broke it in half with small glee –"How do you like this?"

Pen's anger came back full force – "That was my brother's flute!"- How could he had thrown that, maybe assaulting Ice Prince with the flute was a bad idea to begin with but Pen wasn't thinking about that, he was angry and he wanted to punch the blue out of the prince's face.

"Ice Prince! You better either set us free or come in here and fight me! 'cause otherwise I'm GONNA FLIP OUT!"- Pen was furious and he couldn't help but scream the last part.

In that moment something assaulted Ice Prince's head. He felt an extreme jolt of pain that almost made him faint on the spot.

 _'What is happening to me?'_ Thought the Prince, this had never happened before. The pain was so strong he feared he'll pass out! He needed to get out and fast! Find something to lessen the migraine he was suffering. 

"I'm sorry princesses but I have to go to the bathroom, It´ll be just for a second so please excuse me"- Hurriedly the pained prince walked away while trying to hide the immense pain he was in.

As the prince walked out of the room Pen continued to shout- "ICE PRINCE!"- Pen kept shaking the bars of the cell screaming for the blue man to come back but he was stopped when he felt that someone had touched his shoulder. 

"Huh? Bar Bar! are you ok?" - Pen asked concerned. He was so busy with the Ice Prince that he forgot to check on him when they fell out of the ice.

Bartram just nodded at his friend and then stomped a few time on the ground. -"You're right Bar Bar, I'm sorry princesses!"- How could he let the Prince get to him like that? Not only had he forgotten about Bartram's safety, he forgot the princesses' too.

"Slime Princess, are you alright?"- he asked to the nearest of the princesses.

"He's held us here for weeks, questioning us about our favorite sports and quirky behavior. I've tried to tell him as little as possible."- Responded slime princess, glad that Pen was worried about her but after all that happened she was losing the little hope they had left of escaping.

"He's also made us answer personality and aptitude tests" - said Hot dog princess, she hated those. She disliked the idea of having high compatibility with the Ice Prince's interests.

Pen turned his attention to the Purple cloud of Lumps that was Lumpy Space Princess,- "What about you LSP? How do you fair?"

"I'm bored, and I'm not having any fun." - Answer LSP with her infamous voice that had led to many people thinking she was a male.

Then Pen turned to the last of the princesses, - "Wildberry Princess?"

The small berry was hesitant to answer but she shyly admitted her personal peeve- "I don't really like to complain, but I felt really uncomfortable when he sends penguins to make sure we don't try to escape when he let us out for the bathroom."

Then an idea came to Pen as fast as lightning when he heard that -"That's it! Wildberry princess you're a genius!" - Wildberry Princess blushed at that, she didn't understand why she was complimented, but she really liked it, especially because it was Pen who did it.

"I..I don't understand"- replied shyly Wildberry Princess.

"Everyone listen!, I have a plan." Those were the magic words that made the princesses feel that there was still hope for them to escape.

"This is what we're going to do. First I'll convince the Ice Prince to let me out to use the bathroom, and then before he closes the door I'll beat him real hard! while I'm doing that all of you ride on Bartram and escape! Everyone's on board with this?" - Everyone nodded in agreement. It wasn't the bests of plans but it was better than nothing at all.

Meanwhile, as Pen discussed his plan with the princesses, the Ice Prince was in the Bathroom trying to find something to alleviate his head.

"Where is it? Where is it? In the name of glob where is the medicine!"- The pain wasn't as strong as before but it was still bothering him.

He was so frantic in his search that he was turning his bathroom into a mess of pills, cream and toilet paper. –

"Thank Glob here it is" - The price said happily, holding the bottle like it was a sacred object. He opened the bottle and in his desperation for relief that he didn't bother to pass the pills with water. After gulping the pills he sat on the toilet waiting for the effects of the pills to kick in.

"Why…?"- He whispered. Why was he having these intense headaches? Why were they so sudden? What was the cause?

When he thought about it, he realized that the headaches started when he met those meddlesome Pen and Bartram.

Were they the ones responsible? If so, how were they doing it? They couldn't have poisoned him and they didn't look like magic users to be able to put a curse or a hex on him so what the stuff!

"I better get out now, I don't want the princesses to worry about me,"- the blue man said after sitting in silence for about 10 minutes. - "They are probably bored without me in there! Better bring them something to do." - But what?

"Hey princesses, did you miss me? I'm sorry if I took too long, but now we can do some fun stuff together, who wants to sing Karaoke?" - Now that the headache was gone we could go back to wooing the princesses and show them some of his awesome singing skills.

"Hey, man! Ice Prince!" - Pen started calling for his attention the moment he stepped inside the room. -"Could you let me out of this cell?"- asked the boy in an urgent way. But as expected the Ice Prince refused.

"What made you think that I would've changed my opinion about letting you go just for going to the bathroom?" - The prince asked annoyed, did the really give up that easily that he had to resort to begging now? Very deep inside of him he felt kind of disappointed a.d he didn't have any idea why.

"No dude, I have to go to the bathroom!" - Pen pleaded as he crossed his legs. The boy was trying his best to fool the ruler of the ice kingdom but it seemed that he wasn't exactly buying his act.

"Do you really think I will fall for that trick?"- Really now, did they really think this pathetic idea would work? This had to be one of the oldest tricks in the book.

"Please dude I'm not faking it, please let me go!"- Pen tried again adding more urgency and desperation in his voice. He may not be a great actor but he had plenty of experience trying to convince his mother to let him skip chores when he wanted to go outside.

 _'Wow that sounded sincere'_ The prince thought, but still had qualms believing the brat's claim. _'better test his resolve'_. 

"I think not" - the prince was sure this was an act; he could feel it in his gut.

Then Pen knew he was fighting a losing battle, so he put his all into his final plea.

"PLEASE!" - the cry was so high his voice cracked for a second, not his proudest or manliest moments for sure.

Outside the cell, the cry had a different effect on the capture, because the second the cry entered his ears, a renewed wave of pain assaulted the Ice Prince's head. The pain was so much he couldn't hold back his pained expression anymore.

"AAH! Okay, Okay! I let you go!"- At first he had his doubts but now he was sure that it was the brat who was causing the headaches.

But right now the pain was so much that he didn't care if his plead was true or not, he just wanted to get rid of the pain. So if he let him go, the pain would probably disappear.

He was wrong!

The moment he opened the gate he felt even more pain, but not on the inside of his head but on his stomach where the little brat punched him.

"Everyone get out!" - Pen yelled out while the princesses mounted Bartram to make their final escape.

Though very surprised, it only took a few seconds for the Ice Prince to recuperate and for some strange reason the headache went away the instant Pen sucker punched him.

That was the good news, the bad news was that the punch really, really hurt. How could a 12 year old punch as hard as a full grown man? It was inconceivable.

Then he noticed the mule carrying out the princess out of cell.

"NO! Don't go!"- The prince yelled but not in an angry tone. It sounded strange, almost as if he pleaded for them to not go away for fear of been left alone.

But that strange tone was quickly turned into anger -"I'll kill you all!"- the ice wizard threaten while preparing a freeze beam to put an end to the princesses' escape. But as he was about to shot his magic beam, he was interrupted by a powerful kick to the face. Just what the junk did his parents feed to this brat?

"Hiyaa!"- Pen's kick was enough to knock the Prince down to the floor. The young hero didn't stop there; he jumped on top of the Prince's body and grabbed his clothes from the neck so they could see each other eye to eye. -"Stay down!"

"You brat! You ruined everything! You messed up my chances of marrying four of my potential wives!"- although he had kidnapped 4 princesses and kept them inside a cell for days, he still acted like he was the victim.

"That is not the case! You're nuts, man! And I don't know how to help you! Probably because I'm just a simple dude."- Even after all of this experience Pen still wanted to help the Ice Prince, he wasn't completely evil, he was just a misguided soul.

A misguided soul that was completely bonkers.

"The point is, don't put princesses in jail ever again!"- If talking and asking nicely didn't work maybe the rough way will make the Ice Prince understand the point.

But it seemed that not even a beating would change the Ice Prince anytime soon. "As if I ever listen to a child like you" - answer back one last time before Pen put him out of commission with a punch to the jaw.

"That one was for my brother's flute"- Pen whispered with a sad look on his face to the unconscious body of the mad prince on the floor.

Then Pen got off the Ice prince and walked to the remains of the only thing he had of his missing brother. -"I'm so sorry, Finn!"- A single tear escape from the young boy's eye and fell to the icy floor, he then took the broken pieces and stuffed them in his backpack before finally escaping the cold castle.

While Pen made his escape the fallen Ice Prince was experimenting the strangest dream.

The ruler of the ice kingdom was on what could only be described as a rustic house next to a barn. Clearly this place was beneath someone of HIS status.

Then he heard the voice of a woman calling for him. –"Come back to the house ****!"- The voiced said but the last word he couldn't understand, it seemed like it was erased from existence.

But the strangest thing of all was that he felt compelled to answer back. –"I coming M**!"- What was that? Why did he just say that? And why couldn't he hear the last word? What was happening?

Then his surroundings changed and transformed the day into night, and the very same house what was fine a moment ago was burning down.

He could hear the cries for help from inside the house, they were from the woman who called him earlier.

The ice wizard didn't understand why but once again he felt compelled to help them; the prince extended his arms and used his powers of ice and snow to put out the fire. After the last flame was extinguished everything went dark.

There was nothing, no light or any sound.

The prince wasn't even sure if he had a body or not, everything felt strange, like he was ethereal but at the same time not. He remained static for a few seconds feeling nothing until started sensing how the darkness began enveloping him all around him.

He started feeling cold, very cold. So cold he was freezing! He felt the coldness pierce his body burrow itself deeper almost as if the darkness was trying to consume his innards and reach his very soul.

And it all hurt.

The prince tried to scream but no sound came from his mouth. The cold was spreading through his body. The burning sensation it caused felt worst than any burn caused by fire could.

He tried to struggle against it but it was all useless. He couldn't feel his body, he didn't have one, the darkness wasn't consuming his body it was consuming his soul.

All of the sudden the prince heard voices.

They sounded distant but at the same time near, they were cold but tempting. At first they were intelligible, but as the cold consumed him the voices became clearer. They were whispering, the voices started reveling old and forgotten secrets only for him to know.

He was theirs and they were his. For the pain he felt to go away all he needed to do was to accept, to accept them. And he would never remember any suffering any pain. He would be happy again, he just needed to accept.

Accept and he will forever forget the pain.

"WHAAAAAAA!"-

Then everything came to a stop. The darkness disappeared and he was back again in front of the now frozen house. But this time he wasn't alone.

He could see an infant, no older than one year old. It was crying, why he was crying? Was it because of him? He didn't know what to do.

He saw a bald man next to a blond woman who was carrying the crying baby.

The prince felt his mouth move and talked to the woman carrying the baby. But the words where he said were silent to him.

Then he carried them to a mule, and saw them rode away. His body acting as if it had a mind on his own, doing things his mind didn't comprehended.

Then he heard himself talk one last time and finally he could hear what was he saying.

"Leave me alone"- Were the last words he that leave his mouth, before the darkness and cold consumed them and him once again.

Ice Prince opened his eyes and returned from his dream. He was at the exact same spot where he lost consciousness. The only difference was that he was surrounded by penguins and his faithful snow dog Jake. 

"Jake? Penguins? What happened? Where are the princesses?" - the prince asked standing up and looking around to assess the current situation.

After he regained full consciousness and control over his body, he remember what happened last before drifting into unconsciousness.

That brat, Pen was his name. He took the princesses away, and punched his lights out. He wanted to give chase but he didn't know how much time had passed since they escaped. For all he knew the princess could be long far gone by now.

Jake feeling his master's anger tried to console him – "Woof, woof" – his master turned to him and said - "Don't worry Jake, I'm not mad at you, I am mad at those meddlesome "heroes". –He used finger quotes at the words heroes because to him they were the ones who stole HIS princesses.

The prince knelt down and petted Jake – "Don't worry buddy!" said the prince while calming himself down. –"Those were only four potential wives; there are tons of different princesses out there for me to kidnap and marry".

Ice Prince started laughing maniacally forgetting completely about his strange dream.

* * *

All the princesses were cheering for their escape; freedom was more beautiful when you had been deprived of it. Pen was walking next to Bartram while the princesses rode him, except for LSP, she was floating along.

Since it was already very late at night Pen decided to take the princesses to the Candy Kingdom. Princess Bubblegum was a very kind person so Pen was certain that she could house her fellow princesses for a night.

"Like, oh my glob, I can't wait to tell Melissa all about my kidnapping, she'll be like totally jealous that my life so exciting!" - LSP was announcing her plans now that she was free and far away of the creep Ice Prince.

Her fellow princesses didn't share her enthusiasm about retelling their capture as a grand adventure but they were glad for their freedom.

"I can't wait to get to the castle, I been dying for some real food! Ice Prince's food was terrible!"- Shared Hot dog Princess to her fellow escapees. All of them nodded in agreement, Ice prince cooking skills were subpar at best. They all preferred to chew ice before eating more of the prince's horrid cooking.

It didn't take long for the six of them to arrive at the Candy Kingdom Castle, home of Princess Bubblegum, ruler of the candy people.

"Thanks a lot for taking the princess for the night, Princess Bubblegum!" –Pen said gratefully after explaining the whole story to the pink princess.

"There's no need to thank me Pen. It is the least I can do for my fellow princesses, especially if the Ice Prince is involved" - Bubblegum had explained to Pen that the Ice Prince had caused problems before but only to those who entered the Ice Kingdom, most of the time he was a loner barely seen by anyone.

This was the first time that he had actively went out of his way to kidnapped someone, which was worrisome especially if it was royalty.

"Now if you´d excuse me, I need to inform the castle staff about our royal guests"- Bubblegum tried not to worry too much about Ice Prince for now. She had to make sure her fellow princesses were fine before planning what to do with the evil prince if he were to continue his kidnappings.

"Good bye Princess Bubblegum!" – Pen was glad that Princess Bubblegum was here to help them all. She was the first Princess he had ever saved and a small part of him found her real pretty. Too bad she was way older than him.

"Good bye Pen"- The princess waved goodbye before turning around looking for Peppermint Butler.

After exiting the room Pen was left all alone. The other princesses were at the royal dining hall eating real food and not whatever the heck the Ice Prince had given them.

As Pen was about to leave when he heard someone calling his name. -"P..Pen!"- The young hero turned around and found that it was Wildberry Princess who called him.

"Princess, did you need me for something?"

Wildberry Princess remained silent and walked up to him trying her best to tell him something but she was being shy.

"Mm.. I .. wanted.. to tell you.."- She was speaking really soft barely above whispers, but since they were the only ones on the room, Pen could hear her.

"Yes princess? What do you need?"- Pen could tell she was nervous about something so he didn't try to hurry her.

"I..I am very grateful that you save me…US. I mean save us"- she quickly corrected herself, feeling more self-conscious by her slip.

"No need to thank me princess it's what I do" he said with a smile, it was his duty as a self-proclaimed hero to never let anyone down, to he would help anyone in need, no matter how big or small the problem.

"But I really am! You were so brave!"- Wildberry Princess blurted out a little more loudly than before. She was amazed by his heroic nature, she admired him for it. And today he came on her hour of need and risked his life for her and the others without hesitation or reward.

He truly was a real hero.

"It was nothing"- said Pen putting a hand behind his head while a faint blush appeared on his cheeks. He was accustomed to receiving thanks and kind words every time he helped somebody, but the way that Wildberry Princess had thanked him make him feel strange.

Wildberry was more and more amazed by him, not only he had save them all and didn't ask for any reward; he was also modest about his accomplishment. – "Even so I wish to give you something as a token of my appreciation"- Wildberry blushed a lot but it wasn't very noticeable since she was already red.

"A token? What is it?"- asked Pen curious. He usually received just words of thanks and sometimes a weapon or a baked good, so he was excited for whatever the Princess wanted to give him.

"Could you please kneel down for a bit"- the princess asked him since he was much taller than she. The young hero just nodded and he complied.

Wildberry blushed a lot more and she felt she looked like a tomato more than a berry.

"This is my gift to you"- she couldn't believe she was doing this, but it was too late to back down now. She neared her face to Pen's and gave him a kiss on the lips. It was simple and innocent but for Wildberry Princess it was the wildest thing she had ever done.

Pen was stunned by the kiss. He didn't expect such a thing. This was nothing compared to every other kiss he had received before. Sure most of them were from his mom and he had been kissed before by Princess Bubblegum when he save her from falling to her death, but that time was only in the cheek. This was a whole different thing.

The kiss didn't last long, maybe two seconds but for the both of them it felt like an eternity. After the kiss ended Wildberry became so flustered that she bolted out of the room with tons of thoughts running in her mind, how could she have done that? What would Pen think about her now? And did he like it?

Pen just stood there frozen and confused by the whole situation, it took him a whole minute to process what happened between him and Wildberry princess.

She kissed him out of the blue and he didn't stop her. Would he have stopped her? He didn't know what to think, he better ask someone with more life experience like Dad or Mom.

Suddenly a feeling of dread invaded him.

Mom! She was surely going to kill him for coming back home so late at night. Maybe if he calmly explained what happened and that he ended up saving four princesses she wouldn't ground him for life. But deep inside he knew that it wasn't going to be enough. He was so flopped. He should have stayed a prisoner of the Ice Prince.

* * *

When Pen arrived back home he expected her parents waiting for him ready to give him his punishment right there without let him explain. What he didn't expect was for his mother to squeeze the life out of him with a hug the moment he entered the house.

"Oh Pen! I'm so happy you're safe" said Mom hugging him so hard he felt he would die because of the lack of air. "The moment I stop hugging you, you are so grounded mister!" Pen was confused, yes he had arrived home very late and mom usually worried a lot, but she never acted like this before.

Pen looked at his father pleading him for help. "Honey, I think that's enough let the poor boy breath". As his mother let him go Pen sighed in relief. His mother's hug would've almost killed him, maybe next time he should take her along with Bar Bar on the next adventure, those hugs were that dangerous.

"Now Pen, tell us what happened" Mr. Mertens wasn't as concerned as his wife, since he knew that Pen was a special boy and could take care of himself just fine, but he was still curious about what kept Pen so busy.

"Well, Bar Bar and I went to the Ice Kingdom to play and beat the heat, you know, after doing our chores, of course!" Pen decided to tell them the whole story from the beginning, his parents deserved it.

"But after sliding down the hills we were found by the Ice Prince!" - The moment Pen said that name dread crept into Mrs. Mertens heart. Her worst fear came true and the worry was evident in her face.

"What's wrong Mom? Did you guys meet the Ice Prince before?" - Pen noticed the look on his mother's face the moment he mentioned the prince. Did he try to hurt them before? If that was the case he was going to beat up the Ice Prince the next time they meet.

Mrs. Mertens was conflicted, she didn't want to lie to her son, but she couldn't tell him that the Ice Prince was his long lost brother Finn either. She didn't know how he would take the news that his brother was one of the most feared and hated person on all of Ooo.

Mr. Mertens sensing her wife's distress answered for her, -"Yes, we have heard of him before. He's the reason we told you not to enter deep into the Ice Kingdom" - He also didn't want to tell his son they real relation with the Ice Prince so he decided to tell a half truth.

"I'm sorry" - Pen was really repentant for going against his parents warning. But he quickly got over it and continued with his story. – "After introducing himself he captured us and took us to his home" - Mrs. Mertens concealed her worries better this time, She knew her eldest son preferred to be left alone, that's why he kept attacking people who entered his icy domains. But taking prisoners was something he had never done before.

"After that he locked us inside a cell in his living room with four princesses, he said he kidnapped them because he wanted to marry one" - Now that caused the Mertens to show a face of surprise. It was shocking news. Deep down Mrs. Mertens felt happy that Finn didn't want to be a loner anymore; no mother wants to see their sons be alone and unloved. On the other hand kidnapping and forcing people to marry you was the wrong way to do things. This was a new level wickedness for their eldest son.

Pen continued his story and told them how he came up with a plan to beat the Ice Prince and escape with the princesses. He ended the tale explaining where he took the princesses and what Princess Bubblegum told him about Finn's past transgressions. The Mertens were conflicted, they were happy that Pen and the Princesses were safe and unhurt, but they disliked the idea of their two sons fighting each other if Finn continued with his new M.O.

Mrs. Mertens noticed how quiet Pen became after he ended his tale, then she realized her son was holding back tears. – "Pen? What's wrong dear?" – She was worried, Pen rarely cried.

–"Mom. I..I.."- he tried to talk but it was difficult getting his words across while holding his tears. Instead he decided to show them the reason why he became so upset.

It was Finn's flute, the one he carved himself all those years ago, now it lay broken in half in Pen's hands. "It was my fault" – he confessed barely above a whisper.

"Now, now, I'm sure it wasn't your fault" his mother consoled him.

– "NO! it was MY fault" – he didn't meant to raise his voice to his mother but had to confess. He had to suffer for what he had done to his brother's only physical reminder. –"I threw it at the Ice Prince trying to hurt him so he would let us out! But he caught it and broke it in half! – Why he had done that? It was a stupid plan in hindsight, he was desperate and in his stupidity he had thrown his brother's precious flute.

"I'm so stupid" – he cried and finally letting his tears loose. He deserved be called stupid for what he had done. It was the most stupid thing he had ever done! He deserved to be punished and be yell at, he destroyed a precious memory.

"PEN! Never say that ever again!"- Mrs. Mertens said it while looking at his poor son in the eyes. - "You are not stupid and you should never think that! You are a brave boy who always tries to do the right thing" – She embraced her son while fighting tears herself.

She wanted to cry with his son but she had to be strong for him. –"You just saved four people today and they would be sad to hear their savior called himself stupid!" - She needed to reassure her son. He needed to hear this.

"You may have made a mistake! But everyone makes them! Even your dad and I." – Pen was getting calmer but tears still came from hearing his Mom talk. –"I am sure Finn wouldn't mind! I sure he would've been proud that his little brother could save the lives of six people including Bartram and yourself! And the only thing that was lost was an old flute."

"R-Really?"- Pen asked hopefully after a minute of silence. He felt and a hand rest in his shoulder and he look up at his Dad. 

"I'm sure of it" - He had been silent while watching his wife comforting their son, she was better at it than him, but he knew when to intervene. - "He would say something like 'All right, that's my little Bro, he is the best hero there is, I'm proud of him'". – After a few moments Pen finally said.

"Thank you. Mom, Dad, thank you. And all the members present of the Mertens family share a hug near the fireplace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Pen's yellow hat has the shape of Jake's head.
> 
> (2) I didn't include Emerald Princess and Ghost Princess for two reasons. One: I don't like Emerald Princess that much and she didn't do or say anything important during the episode. Two: Ghost Princess being there is a big plothole, she's a ghost! how could Ice King capture a ghost? Some may say that his ice is magic and with it he could capture her and keep her prisoner. I can believe that. But since they have never explained how he did it I decided to exclude her.
> 
> (3) Snow Jake has shape-shifting powers but he can only use them when there is enough snow and Ice he could use.
> 
> (4) Why was there an implied (no really?) PenXWBerry subtext. Well, because Wildberry Princess is frickin cute and she deserves more love. And if you don't like that well Lump Off! Sorry, that was rude of me. what I said was that you can ignore it as a one sided thing. And sorry for disturbing your WB/whatever-you-guys-want sensibilities.


	3. Evicted by the Jerk who came from the Nightosphere!

Tonight was the night!

Pen had been waiting for this day all week. After finishing his dinner, Pen bolted out of the house to finally spend the night in his Tree Fort.

The Tree Fort was the coolest place ever! It was excellent for relaxing and spending a good time after adventuring or doing chores. Pen and his father had worked on the Tree Fort since he was six. It took years of hard work to make it the best tree house ever.

The fort was the size of a small house but it was big enough even for Bartram (who was skilled at climbing trees). There Pen kept all the treasures, prizes and even rewards he had found, won or received in his adventures.

And tonight was the night!

Mom had finally let him spend the night in the fort! He had to work his buns off to get his mom's permission but now that the day was here, he could say that it was totally worth it. Pen had a ton of stuff planned. He was going to stay all night playing with BMO, eat some of the apple pie Tree Trunks baked for just for him and Bartram and read some comic books from before the creation of Ooo, could you believe it!

Pen climbed the tree as fast as he could, he couldn't contain all the excitement he was feeling. After all that hard work he had at the farm, tonight would be so much more fun!

But when he opened the door and entered the Tree fort. Pen found something that he didn't expect to see ever inside the place.

It was a teenage black haired boy with a darker shirt that said "Jerk" in bold white letters **(1)** and dirtied jeans. He looked around 17 years old and excluded a punk-troublemaker kind of vibe. The only thing strange (strange? In Ooo? No way!) about him were his grey skin and pointy ears.

The grey teenager was sitting on the couch Pen and Bartram had won after beating a Cyclops some time ago, and he seemed to be eating something. –"Oh! Hello there! Who are you?" the grey teen asked as if he like wasn't invading Pen's Tree Fort. 

"Who am I?! I should be the one asking that! Who are you, where did you come from and what are you doing here?"- Pen wasn't a rude kid but entering without permission to his Fort really ticked him off.

"Mmm… oh! Yeah my bad!"- he said ignoring the fuming human boy. – "In that particular order… I'm Marshall Lee Abadeer, the Demon Prince **(2)** , I came from the Nightosphere and I live here now"- said in a very laid-back manner.

Pen was stunned by the answer. Did the teenager say he was a Prince? Oh great! another prince that was going tobe a pain in the butt why couldn't the princes of the land be nice like their female counterparts, wait a second, did he said DEMON?!

As in the evil creatures that come from hell to torment people, he said he came from the Nightosphere, was that how they called hell nowadays? Did they send a memo notifying the change of name and he didn't find out until know?

Wow, his mind went way off track but that's what happens when the prince of hell or possibly one of its subsidiaries came to your tree house uninvited claiming it was his.

Pen would have remained frozen in shock if he hadn't notice what the Demon teen was eating. –"Is that apple pie?" he finally asked after what might seem hours of silence but in reality were like 20 seconds.

"WAS apple pie, and let me tell you it was delicious" – he responded while dropping the plate were the pie had been- "If I knew I was going to have visitors I would've save some, sorry!"- It was clear by his tone of voice he wasn't sorry at all. - "Now that I answered that, tell me, who are you and what are you doing in my house?"

That did it, Pen didn't like this guy one bit, he forgot all about demons and hell and confronted what he saw in front of him. A laid back teenage jerk and a thief to boot!

"Well my name is Pen Mertens and this is my Tree Fort and that was my apple pie!" - He could tolerate a lot of things but this guy stepped out of line. Nobody ate HIS apple pie!

"Well now it is mine, what you gonna do 'bout it?" in an instant Marshall changed from his laid back tone to a more defiant one. –"Not only am I older, bigger and stronger than you. I also got demonic powers you little pea brain could never comprehend" – To make his point clearer he transformed his face into a tentacle monstrosity that mortal words could never describe and the hiss he made shook Pen to the very bones!

While Pen was frozen in sudden fear, Marshall took advantage of his catatonic state and threw him out of the door into the cold night. –"See ya later, kiddo"- he had already won but what kind of Demon he would be if he didn't rubbed salt to the cuts – "Why don't you go and cry to your Mommy! Baby!"- Marshall laughed so loud that his laughter could still be heard all the way down to the base of the tree, even with windows and door shut.

Pen couldn't believe what just happened. A demon kicked him out of his Tree Fort and he didn't do anything to stop him. After a whole minute of listening Marshall's laughter Pen got up and walked home, thankfully he didn't fell on his head on his way down or hurt anything of importance, but it still hurt, not his body but his pride and honor.

He couldn't do anything to Marshall Lee that night, but tomorrow was another day. He returned back home and part of him was glad he didn't cry on his way back.

* * *

Pen returned home still hurt by his defeat at the hands of the Demon Prince Marshall Lee, Pen did what other great heroes would do when an evil doer takes something precious by force. He went and told on Marshall the next day. Childish? Yes, but what do you expect from him? the kid was twelve and angry, his options were limited until he found a way to deal with Demons from the Nightosphere.

When he told his parents about how his Tree Fort was invaded and took from him by a teenage demon his parents did what loving parents do when their kids tell them hard-to-believe stories. They BELIEVED HIM. They have been living in Ooo for 12 years! A story about a teenage demon bully wasn't that farfetched.

They were all sitting in the breakfast table near the kitchen, thinking of ways to deal with their demonic teenage problem.

"Why don't you just punch him the balls?" Mr. Mertens suggested, while his wife was aghast – "What?!"- how could he suggest something like that. -"His eyeballs"- Got to admit, that was a good one.

"Well it wasn't funny"- Mrs. Mertens reprimanded his husband. "I don't want Pen to use violence when isn't necessary"- Sometimes she had to be the one putting the example.

"Let's write that one just as a back-up plan?"- suggested Pen as he wrote it down on a piece of paper.

"Why don't we try reason with him, maybe he'll listen if we try the diplomatic way" - Mrs. Mertens gave her two cents. There was a complete silence and both Pen and her husband looked at her as if she had grown a second magic head (which occurs frequently enough in Ooo).

"W-what did I say? What is with this sudden silence?"- She was unnerved by the way her family was looking at her. Her husband decided to break the silence.

"Honey, even if we ignore the fact that he's a demon, we are still dealing with a rebellious teenager. They don't do reason or diplomatic".

His wife crossed her arms and turned her head to the side acting offended. –"Well, I still think we should give it a try. Why don't you write my idea as a back-up back-up plan, Pen?"- She turned to her son and gave him the look parents often use with their kids to show they them they were right.

"Oh, yes mom"- he replied nervously, better do what Mom told him, she could get scary if you git her in a bad mood.

They sat there for a few minutes, until a familiar face appeared through the open window. -"Bar Bar! Where were you buddy?"- Bartram rose his leg and tapped the window a few times. - "Huh? I didn't know Lady Rainicorn visited last night, that's the reason you couldn't come to the fort last night?" - the family mule confirmed the story by nodding a few times.

The Mertens didn't find strange that their son could understand their mule, or that he could understand them, they just wrote it off as a side effect of the mutations that transformed Earth into Ooo. That also explained why Bartram became so much agile and strong like their son.

"It's good to see, because we had a problem. There is a demon on the Fort Tree, and he took it as his! Do you any ideas that could help?"- although Pen usually came up with battle plans for their adventures and fights, Bartram was very good at thinking outside the box, and came up with great ideas from time to time.

Bartram instantly tapped back. –"Ask Bubblegum Princess?" – Pen translated for all to hear. - "I don't know she is more of a scientist than a wizard"- Pen liked princess Bubblegum but she didn't looked like someone who was knowledgeable in the occult or demons.

Bartram then gave another suggestion -"Oh yeah! The Library of the Candy Kingdom! I completely forgot about it! You really are a genius Bar Bar!"- finally a lead for answers to put a stop to Marshall Lee.

"Mom! Dad! I gotta…" – "Yes, yes you can go" his mother said before he could ask for permission. Pen then turned to his best friend/animal companion "OH YEAH! Bar Bar do you know what time it is?" he asked excited, he always say that before any adventure. Bartram just replied with a bray.

"Yes! It's ADVENTURE TIME!"

* * *

While Pen and Bartram were on their way to the Candy Kingdom Royal Library, a petit red figure was slowly making her way to the Tree Fort where Pen supposedly was.

WildBerry Princess couldn't believe it was only a week after she had kissed Pen, in the mouth. She couldn't stop blushing at the memory. She didn't know exactly what she felt for the human boy, she only knew that thinking about him make her feel funny inside.

As the Tree Fort came to view she came to an abrupt stop, she felt her legs turn into Jelly (raspberry flavored, yummy!) and a hundred questions started to float around her head. What would Pen say to her when they meet? Did he think about the kiss as much as her? Did he like it? Did he like her? Why if he didn't? They could never look at each other the same way again! They would have to evade each other for the rest of their life, at we'll bring down the mood of parties they were both invited! Their friends would have to takes side! Friendships will be broken! Relationships will come to an end! A war would start and destroy Ooo as they know it! All because she kissed Pen!

She was about to turn around and go back home when she felt a vibration on her pocket, It was her grape phone! And she could tell who the caller was by the ring alone. Why did she let "her" choose the ring tone? It was a "girl" voice saying over and over again "Hey girl"

"Hel-"

"HEY GIRL"- she had just answer and LSP was already taking control of the conversation. -"I know what you're thinking and you better forget about it" – what? Did LSP get mind reading powers without telling anybody? "Girl, like I can totally see your legs trembling, you have to princess-up and walk over there!"- wait a minute, see? WB Princess turned around until she spotted LSP in all her lumping glory at a distance in what you may call a "Hobo Camp".

"Wait! LSP are you spying on me?"- She forgot all about her possible end of the words scenarios for a moment and "confronted" LSP. 

"Like, no way, I'm just here to make sure you don't flop this up! I'm like looking out for you. OH MY GLOB! I'm like your fairly oddparent! (3)

Wildberry had to admit that she felt a lot better now, even though her privacy was been invaded by LSP and she was the reason why she was visiting Pen in the first place.

It happened the same night when she kissed Pen, after she bolted out of the room she didn't noticed LSP talking on the phone. She just had witnessed the kiss. Wilberry didn't know how doomed she was.

LSP was the biggest gossip in all of Ooo, and she had her phone at hand. First, she called turtle princess, her BPFF (Best Princess Friend Forever), who then called ghost princess, who called Breakfast Princess and so on.

By the time she came back to the dining hall, all of Ooo female royalty knew about the kiss, (good thing princess gossip was heard by princesses only). Even Princess Bubblegum knew and it had only happened 15 minutes ago.

"Is it true, WildBerry Princess?"- Bubblegum never really cared much for gossip, but this time it happened right under her roof.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about?" WildBerry was confused; much later she would've found out that LSP was the one responsible of the gossip.

"Is it true that you declared your undying love for Pen and now you have decided to run away and marry?"- It seemed that down the grapevine the tale became more exaggerated.

"What?! N-no?" It took her a lot of time to clear up all the misunderstanding, but deep down WB felt faint when she pictured herself in Pen's arms riding on a white horse (more like Bartram painted white) and going to the sunset.

After the misunderstanding was cleared, Wildberry started receiving calls from other princesses tell her to "go for it", "take your man" and "you better make your move or someone else is going to take him". So after a few days of calls and visits (Turtle Princess just had to ask for details in person) she gave into the peer pressure and decided to visit Pen.

She also decided to bring along a meat pie she made herself, the idea was from Turtle Princess who read in a book that to get to a man heart was through the stomach. She made it with the best meat she could find, she even brought along a bottle of her famous berry juice.

Wildberry Princess stopped her journey down memory lane and smiled a little with confidence. Pen was a great boy and she would never doubt him, and even if Pen didn't like her, they could still be friends.

"Thanks for looking out for me LSP!"- She was feeling more confident knowing that she had someone look out for her.

"That's my girl! Now remember to work those lumps! Nothing brings boys to the yard like lumps! They go crazy for them! It's all about the lumps!" - WB had to sweet drop at that.

"Thanks LSP, I really appreciated"- She really did even if her advice could never apply to her.

After she hung up she went directly to the Tree Fort, she felt discouraged that the house was very up in the tree. She didn't felt confident enough to try to climb the planks that served as ladder.

"H-Hello? Pen, are you home?"- She decided to call out Pen, maybe he could come down instead of her climbing up. But her voice was so tame that it would be a miracle if someone up there could hear her.

Unfortunately for her, the current occupant of the tree house had an incredible sense of hearing, augmented by his demonic bloodline.

"Who's calling at his hour? Don't you know that my kind dislike raising so early?- Asked Marshall Lee annoyed that someone was interrupting his nap at the ungodly hour of 12 pm.

"Sorry I didn't know Pen had visitors, I better leave now" – WB felt sorry for disturbing the young one on the tree. Also she didn't want to anyone seeing her while she spoke with Pen.

Marshall finally notice who was down the tree, it was a princess and she was looking for that kid Pen. Marshall smirked wickedly as a sinister plan came to mind. He was far up enough so Wildberry couldn't see his face, if she could she would have run away the moment she saw Marshall's smirk. Marshall jumped down the tree in his usual devil-may-care manner, surprising Wildberry Princess, he landed hard on his feet put he didn't look affected by the fall.

"Don't worry Princess, It didn't hurt at all." Wildberry felt relief; she didn't like to see other get hurt. Suddenly Marshall approached the princess in a fast and serpentine way. "You said you were looking for Pen, right?" 

Wildberry blush a little when he mentioned the boy she admired. "W-well, yes. Is he here? I wish to speak with him"

This was almost too easy, Marshall thought.

"I see that you brought him pie and juice. Were you planning of having a romantic lunch date or something?" WB blushed a lot more at his insinuation. Could her visit for lunch be considered a date? She didn't know.

"Is Pen here?"- she asked again avoiding his question

"Sorry, he's out for the moment, but maybe you could leave him a message"- Marshall was laughing wickedly on the inside.

"Yes, thank you..mmm, excuse me I didn't catch your name" WB felt a little disappointed that Pen was present but maybe she could find him later.

"How rude of me! My name is Marshal Lee." He introduced himself while holding back his evil laughter.

"Hello Marshall, my name is Wildberry, nice to meet you" she tried to act more casually around this young man who appeared to be Pen's friend.

"Hello Wild Berry Princess" he finally smirked, he couldn't contain his wicked smile no more. "Nice to eat you".

* * *

 

Lumpy Space Princess or LSP for short, keep her word of watching out for Wildberry Princess, that's why she kept following her with her binoculars, she did it was for Wildberry sake and not for possible juicy gossip she could get. Really!

"Oh my Glob!" – Who was that hot guy that jumped down the tree? She tried using an antenna to hear what he was saying to WB. Was he single? It's not like she cared, she had Brad but other princesses would be like totally be into the guy. And she would be the first one to know.

Then the totally new hot guy in Ooo approached WB with a predatory look on his eyes and LSP almost flipped out. Was he coming onto WB? No way! That poor girl could barley handle having a crush on Pen. There's like no way she could handle that hunk. Then LSP got an epiphany.

This could be like the biggest piece of gossip ever! Innocent and naïve WildBerry Princess while on her way to meet the love of her life, suddenly meets a dark mysterious older boy whose dangerous lifestyle awakes something inside of the pure WildBerry. They will feel a deep connection with each other and poor Wildberry is torn between the only two men she loved; the sweet and caring Pen or the hot and passionate hunk.

Then the indecisive girl will see both boys at the same time trying to choose but before she could discovered who is her true love, both boys would made aware of each other at the same time by the interference of a piece of evidence that Wildberry princess couldn't bring herself to get rid of.

Both boys convinced that the other was trying to steal away pure Wildberry. They will confront each other and there will be a fight! And poor indecisive wouldn't be able to choose, so Pen in an unexpected twist will try to kill "Hottie McHotpants" with a knife but in their struggle they will fall to their death, because they would be fighting near a chasm, obviously. Leaving poor Wildberry Princess unable to love again. That is until the sequel comes out, in which one of boys will be revealed to be alive but in a coma while Wilberry Princess is carrying the unborn child of the other.

BEST STORY EVAH!

LSP was so caught up in her fantasy that she didn't notice "Innocent and Naïve" Wildberry Princess been attacked by "Hottie McHotpants" . **(4)**

* * *

The Candy Kingdom Royal Library was the most complete collection of books in all Ooo. Its humble beginnings started when the then ruler of the newly formed Candy Kingdom, The Candy King, decided to preserve all the knowledge from before the meteorite.

You see, the first days after the mutations started people where confused and scared, the majority of the mutated humans lost their previous memories of their past lives, and the ones who kept them became crazy.

Chaos started to propagate and threaten to consume the world, but a man rose above all that and established order. The Candy King, wasn't born royalty or a natural leader, he was an old man who worked at the biggest candy factory there was before the bomb explosion and meteor strike. After the incident, all the people of the town near the factory mutated into candy hybrids, while candy and pastries of the factory acquired life and intelligence. The old man wasn't an exception; he was transformed into a human/gumball hybrid.

The old man was one of the very few who kept their memories and sanity intact. The mutated humans and the newly formed candy people were confused and directionless, they needed someone to guide them and put order, and the old man was the only one who could.

He quickly rallied all the candy people he could, and marched through the streets where he gave a speech that gave direction and purpose to the lost Candy people. Under his guidance, they rebuild and expanded the town forming the Candy Kingdom, and the old man was named King despite his refusal for such title.

After word got out of the creation of a kingdom and its prosperity, others followed suit and formed their own kingdoms and villages. All thanks to the late Candy King and father of Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum, the current ruler of the Candy Kingdom.

One of his mandates was the search and preservation of all books and knowledge sources they could find, he thought that with this knowledge people would remember their past mistakes and learn to never commit them again. His quest for the retrieval of knowledge was so well know throughout the kingdoms that all new books that were written were sent to the king and his library, and through the years the custom still stands as the library grew and grew to its current state. It was truly a beacon of enlightenment and temple of old as well as new knowledge yet to come.

A shame that the young boy and his mule currently inside this majestic place couldn't understand its greatness.

"Man, this is more boring than expected" – Pen thought that finding the answer to his demonic problem would be easy, but sadly the Candy Kingdom Royal Library didn't have "1001 Ways to Defeat and Destroy Demons from Different Dimensions" in the archives. (The last copy of said book was forever lost thanks to Cinnamon Bun of all people…pastries…whatever)

They had search in every book they could find, but they couldn't find something concrete of clear on how to defeat Marshall Lee.

"Guys! Come quick! I found something"- Princess Bubblegum decided to help Pen and Bartram after they told her what happened. They were her friends so it was the least she could do; also she was curious about the demon herself.

"What did you find Princess?"- Finally they could get some answers.

"This book was written by a guy named Joshua **(5)** , he explains that he created a dungeon where he stored his sword made of demon's blood"- Wow! A sword made of demon's blood! That sounded awesome. –" Joshua wrote that the sword acquired special and magical properties that made it unbreakable, sharp enough that it cuts anything, and injuries made by the sword are almost impossible for demons to heal." In other words: fricking awesome.

"Alright! Where's the dungeon?" Pen was excited, now only he would defeat Marshall he'll get a Demon Sword too.

"It doesn't say"- Now that was a letdown –"Joshua wrote that only the worthiest of heroes could find the dungeon and get the sword"- Pen was interested in that; he always thought of himself as a very decent hero, but become the "worthiest" sounded hard, almost impossible! What does one do to become such hero?

Bartram tapped the floor asking 'why tell us about the sword when we couldn't find it yet'. 

"Wait guys! There's more! He says that the sword has a little curse!"- Well the sword seemed too awesome to be true; obviously it had to have a drawback. - "The curse is that a Demon whose blood made the sword would haunt you from time to time"- Now that sounded bad. 

"Why would I want something like that? I already have one demon haunting the fort! I can't add another!" Pen was getting annoyed, what was the point the princess wanted to make?

"Calm down Pen. Joshua left instruction of how to return the demon to its dimension"- Now THAT was more like it. –"You have to said the following incantation ' **Kee Oth Rama Pancake** ' while making the following hand signs"- She showed them the book with drawings of said signs.

"Wow, Joshua sounds the coolest dude in all of Ooo. Do you think we could meet him and ask him about the Sword?" Pen asked hopefully, maybe he could help them too.

"Sorry guys but the book says that it was written in Joshua's last days"- Flop! There goes that idea.

Suddenly Princess Bubblegum cell phone rang. "Hel…"

"OH MY GLOB! PB you're not going to believe this!" Yes it was LSP alright.

"LSP, listen! Right now it's not a good time. I'm in the middle of something" Bubblegum liked LSP but there were times in when she couldn't be bothered dealing with the purple princess.

"Forget your boring old books and listen! There's like a new hot guy in Ooo!" A guy? Seriously? Bubblegum had too many obligations to be interested in guys (and only guys, no matter what FF writers say!). **(6)**

"Like listen! This new guy like he appeared out of nowhere, and he like came up to WB when she went to Pen's club house or something!" Pen's club house? Did she mean the Tree Fort?

"How did he looked like?" she had to confirmed her suspicion.

"I knew you were interested, girl! He is like super hot! He has this wild black hair and his skin was gray but it totally looks good on him!"- uh-oh. That sounded like the description of the demon on Pen's fort. - "He looked like he's about your age, that's why I called you first!"- Now it wasn't the time for LSP to get involved in her love life (or lack of)

"Where did you say you saw him?"- She needed to know if she was talking about the demon.

"He appeared from that tree house where Pen usually is. I think he's like his friend or something" 

"And you said that he came up to Wildberry Princess?"- this sounded worse every second, meanwhile Pen blushed at the mention of WildBerry Princess, he hadn't thought about her since that night when she kissed him. He totally forgot about it when he came home and talked with his parents. It was very emotional and stuff.

"Yeah! Like he came to her like a predator! I didn't know WB had it in her, one moment she was shyly going to meet Pen and the next she totally followed that guy inside the house. I think, I wasn't paying attention!- How could she? She was imagining WB's future love story with love triangles, fights, a coma and an illegitimate child.

"Thanks for informing me LSP" She had to tell the boys!

"Like you're welcome! You should totally go for him, girl. I would but I had Chad. Who by the way recently…" Bubblegum hung the phone before LSP continued with her story, she would have to apologize later.

"Guys, it was LSP. She said that WildBerry Princess was captured by a guy who looks like the Demon you described!"- This turn of events complicated things.

"What?!" – WildBerry was captured by that Demon?! How?

Princess watching Pen's emotions crossing through his face explained what probably happened. –"Apparently WildBerry went to the fort looking for you, then the Demon must've captured her!"- That was the only reasonable explanation. She doubted that WB would've entered willingly with the Demon.

Pen was stunned by this. She went looking for him? Why? Pen shook his head. It didn't matter why she went there; she went looking for him so it was his fault that she was captured! If that demon hurt her, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. If Marshall dared to hurt a single one of her berries, he wouldn't send him back to his dimension; he was going to destroy him.

"Let' go Bar Bar!" he couldn't waste more time, Wildberry princess was in danger!

"Wait Pen! We don't know if the incantation even works!"- Bubblegum tried to stop him but he didn't stop, a person was in danger and it was his fault.

"It doesn't matter, WildBerry is in danger and it's my fault!"

PB tried to make him see reason –"We don't even know the extent of his powers! He could kill you!"- Her words didn't reach him. He wasn't afraid of Marshal Lee.

"It doesn't matter; she's in danger because of me! I prefer to die than see her suffer!"- That stubborn boy, why couldn't he see that what he was about to do was stupid.

"It would make her suffer even more seeing you die!"- Bubblegum knew about her fellow princess's crush on the boy in front of her. She even teased her when WB explained that the rumors of her and Pen escaping together to get married were exaggerated lies.

"Then that means I will not die"- How more obstinate could he get? Now she knew why parents complained about teenagers. –"And even if I do, it'll be up to you to find a way to get rid of Marshall"-Pen Jumped on Bartram, who was ready to fight alongside him, no matter what.

Pen looked back one last time and said "Please tell my parents that I'm sorry and I love them".- The tone in which he said it scared the princess, he wasn't afraid of dying. –"Come on Bar Bar! Let's Go!" – He was gone in an instant.

"You stupid boy"- Bubblegum whispered, afraid for her friend.

* * *

 

Marshall was relaxing in the couch enjoying his latest meal when he heard a familiar voice yelling his name "MARSHALL LEE!"- It was that twerp Pen, what a great timing he had, he couldn't wait to see the look on his face.

"MARSHALL! COME DOWN!" – He was already angry. Good! This way it'd more interesting. As he walked out and jumped down the tree, he noticed the boy standing alone with anger written all over his face.

"Wow wow wow! Chillax, dude!" - Marshall said with his laid back attitude.

"Just give back WildBerry princess! There's no need to fight" – Pen tried to keep his anger in check but Marshall could read his emotions as an open book.

"Wildberry Princess?... I don't know who you're talking about!"- Marshall feigned ignorance which almost sent Pen over the edge.

"Stop it! I know you're lying, just give her back, no one has to get hurt!-

"The only one who's going to get hurt is you, kid!"- Marshall changed his tone to a more taunting one. - "Playing with the big boys will only result in you going back to your Mommy in tears!"- Marshall started laughing, mocking Pen irritating him more and more.

"This is your last chance! Give Wildberry back! Or I´ll…" Pen couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence; he wasn't sure if he could terminate Marshall if all came to worst.

"You'll what? I didn't catch that!"-  Marshall kept poking fun, –"If you want your little girlfriend back you'll have to beat me! Or are you scared to even try, you baby?"- But when you poke a dormant beast you'll only get hurt.

"MARSHALL!"- Pen ran at him will pulling his sword from his back, Flop the diplomatic way it was time for action! Pen jumped and brought down his sword down with the all his force and weight.

Marshall just jumped to the side evading the hit completely. Did he really think he could hit him with that? He saw the attack coming from a mile away! But before he could counterattack, Pen had already pulled his sword back up and sliced at Marshall once again.

Marshall barely avoided the tip, and then Pen kept swinging his sword, not letting Marshall have a second to rest or attack. Glop! This kid was fast. The demon prince kept evading Pen swiftly but powerful strikes when he finally was touched by the sword.

*Riiip* unfortunately for Pen the only one who was injured was Marshall's black shirt (He haven't changed clothes in a while). Needlees to say Marshall got mad – "Dude! That's my favorite shirt!"- In and instant a black like substance covered his right arm transforming it into a giant black arm which he used to show Pen some respect for his T-shirt.

Pen received the punch full force, it was too big and fast to be able to dodge. The human boy was sent flying a couple of yards away. Now that would surely put him down for a few hours. Before Marshall could rejoice in his second victory over the boy, he was rammed by a powerful strike from behind that sent him flying like Pen a few seconds ago.

"Wha…?" was the only thing he uttered, what was that? No one should be able to sneak on him! No one could get past his augmented senses! Marshall turned to give his attacker a good look but he was surprised that what attacked him wasn't a skilled warrior or monster of some kind; it was a simple mule (that he could tell).

"A..Mule sucker punched me?!" -  How the heck did a mule sneak past his senses? He'll be the laughing stock of the demon community! Before he could do anything the mule ran past him and went to check his fallen friend. –"Ha! So you're his sidekick or something! Well let me tell you, he won't be waking up anytime soon!" - he said to the mule, he didn't know if he could hurt a mule's pride but he could hurt the boy's.

As Bartram checked on his friend, Pen suddenly got up his feet with a jump. - "Don't worry Bar Bar, I'm fine!"- Pen was grateful that his friend checked on him, a shame he had to blow his cover, Bartram was his back-up plan if the fight went heavily on Marshall's favor. Said teen was shocked!

How?! That punch could put down a mountain troll out of commission! There is no way this prepubescent boy could stand a hit like that! - "Just what are you?" – This was getting ridiculous this boy couldn't be completely human.

"We are Pen the human and Bartram the mule and we're the ones who are going to kick your balls!...your eyeballs!" – Now that Bartram cover was off, they would have to fight Marshall face-to-jerk face! Pen wasn't worried, with Bar Bar on his side there was no way they'll lose!

"I see… So that mule is your ace in the hole!" – Ouch! That last attack hurt! Was the mule stronger that it looked? It seemed that Marshall had to take this fight more seriously – "That was your last chance at beating me and you blew it! Haha" – He was going to show them not to mess with him.

The same black substance that covered Marshall's arm earlier stared coming from under his clothes covering him from heads to toes; he then started transforming into a giant black creature with long arms and no legs, lots of tentacles and red eyes. He was big enough to be considered a tall building or a large hill.

"How do you like me now, brat? Scared?" - his voice was different, more guttural and deep. Before Pen could answer Monster Marshall attacked them with his enormous hands. The impacted caused a small tremor. Thankfully with his change of sizes came a speed lost, but he was big and strong enough that speed alone wasn't a big loss.

Bartram and Pen had barely escaped been squashed into pulp by jumping in opposite directions. It was good that they moved away far enough during their first attack that the Tree fort wasn't in danger of been destroyed.

"Quick Bar Bar! Before he attacks again!" - Pen ran directly at Marshall while on the ground, Bartram ran on the giant arm to attack the head directly. Though the monster couldn't move his arms very fast his tentacles were other story. They reacted quickly to stop the advance of both heroes.

"AAAAHHH!" Pen had to stop and wrestle with the tentacles that tried to capture him but with a slice of his sword they didn't stand a change, but they were too many and after he cut them they regenerated. Bartram on the other hand kept running forward expertly dodging all the tentacles that attacked him from all sides. He was incredibly fast and agile, the tentacles barley graze him at best. He ran all the way to the monster head and jumped/tackled him in the face. Distracting the monster long enough for Pen to ran to his middle section and slashed him a few times.

Both Pen and Bartram retreaded back when the monster began trashing around with his tentacles moving in erratic ways. Marshall's monster body began decreasing in size; he was still big but not as big and threatening as before.

Pen smiled a little, this could have been a difficult battle but with his faithful friend Bartram by his side. As long as they worked together nothing could stop them! Their small victory was short lived when from the ground black tendrils emerged trying to consume both.

Bartram was the first to notice, his animal instinct never failed him and warned him beforehand but he knew that Pen and him wouldn't be fast enough to avoid capture so he did the most logical thing he could. He pushed Pen out of harm's way while the black tendrils enveloped and dragged him underground.

"BAR BAR!" – It happened so fast, one moment he was next to his friend and next he was been pushed aside while Bartram was consumed by the black tendrils. He noticed that hole where Bartram was dragged down was really a tunnel that led directly to Marshall Lee.

"Hhahaha"- Marshall laughed in his demonic voice and taunted Pen by dangling Bartram by this left hind leg, "I see! so he's the reason why you win your battles! You let your pet fight for you while you claim the victory when your opponents can't fight back!" - That's not true! Pen thought, they fight together as a team and both win as a team, he would never abuse his friendship with Bartram in that manner. "Well not anymore! I'll get rid of your pet!" -  Marshall opened his monstrous mouth and tossed Bartram inside.

"BAR BAR!" – He couldn't do anything to stop Marshall from eating his best friend. -"YOU MONSTER!" – Blind fury consumed Pen as he ran at the monster that ate Bartram.

He was focused so much at trying to hurt Marshall that he didn't see Marshall grow another arm that pounded Pen so hard he left a crater with the poor boy inside. "No that should do it!"- gloated Marshall once more sure of his victory this time.

Pen lied in the crater barely holding to consciousness. That last attack hurt. A lot. He wanted to keep fighting, but doubt hold him back. What was the point of getting up? What was the point of been a hero when he couldn't protect anyone.

Pen started crying and it seemed the tears would never stop. He failed! He failed the rescue! He failed as a hero! He failed as a friend. -"Bar Bar"- he couldn't believe he was dead, sacrificing himself for him! Why couldn't he be faster! It was his fault his best friend died.

He shouldn't have come to fight Marshall, he was too powerful. What was he thinking acting like a hero? Fooling around feeling like there was nothing he couldn't do, feeling like he was invincible. Now look at where that led him, inside a crater in the unforgiving and cold ground, knowing his best friend died because of him.

He should've listened to Princess Bubblegum, he should've listen to mom, the first time she grounded him for adventuring, she knew he was going to end like this, and he didn't listened to her. Feeling high in the addicting rush of emotions that doing dangerous stuff provided, because of it he was there, in the ground and his best friend dead.

Pen felt his consciousness slowly slipping away. What was the point, really? Why bother at all? He should just let the darkness consume him. There he wouldn't cause trouble to anyone anymore, he wouldn't feel pain, he wouldn't feel regret, he wouldn't feel sadness, he wouldn't feel like the failure he is, he wouldn't feel anything anymore. As the he was feeling his mind been consumed by the darkness he gave his final thoughts.

What was the point of it all? He wasn't a hero, he was a kid playing with the big boys begging to be shown a lesson, Marshall was right, he was a baby, a crybaby, a failure. What was he thinking? Why didn't he listen? Whydidn't he see that everything he did led to this end? Everything he did was waste of time? It was stupid. Acting tough was stupid. Try to something he wasn't was stupid. Trying to be a hero was stupid. A stupid dream of a stupid child. How could he be so stupid?

"PEN! Never say that ever again!" – What? Who said that? 

"You are not stupid, and you should never think that"- M..mom? What was she saying? Of course he was stupid, it was his fault that all ended up like this; everything he did led to failure.

"You are a brave boy who always tries to do the right thing" – The 'right thing'? Doing the 'right thing´ led to this. Everything was a mistake. "You may have made a mistake! But everyone makes them! Even your Dad and I." 

"All the people you saved will feel bad hearing their hero call himself stupid" – But…but..he..

"Thank you Pen!"

"You're my Hero!"

"I thought nobody would help us!"

"I was so afraid, but then you showed up!"

"You just saved my life!"

"I want to be just like you!"

Who were these people? Why were they saying that to him? Didn't they know he was just a failure! He tried to ignore to voices but they become stronger and more numerous.

"You saved my son! Thank you, thank you!"

"I was lost and all alone! But you came and showed me the way back home!"

"Now that you are here I don't feel scared anymore!"

"Thanks to you we can live without fear!"

"Are you my guardian angel?"

The voices kept coming and started enveloping his body with a strange warm feeling.

"You are my hero!"

"How could we ever repay you?"

"You're the coolest guy ever!"

"Thank you very much!"

The voices were so numerous that he couldn't understand them anymore, but he could feel how they filled him with a familiar and warm sensation. Then over the crowd, familiar voices rose above the rest!

"Thank you for finding me I was trapped here for so long!" – B..BMO?!

"Thank you for your help! Would you like some apple pie?" – Tree Trunks!

He could feel his body again. With his eyes closed, he began moving, trying to stand up, he was on his knees with both hands on the ground and his arms trembling by the effort. He was regaining consciousness but the voices kept coming.

"Thank you! I will forever remember this!" – Princess Bubblegum!

"*bray*!" – Bar Bar!

"I'm proud of you son!" – Dad!

"Remember I'll always love you no matter what! – Mom!

" P…Pen.."- that voice! - "I..wanted to tell you.." - who? - "I..I am very grateful that you save me"- She.. -"You were so brave!" - She was…-"This is my gift for you"

Wildberry Princess!

He was standing but his eyes remained closed, he didn't know if he could open them.

"Thank you, Pen!" - all the voices including his family and friends said at the same time. They cheer loudly and cried with happiness! They were all grateful for him and everything he has done. But a Little voice caught his attention, it felt so distant but its effect was the more powerful.

"I'm proud of you little sibling!"-  F…FINN!

And with that Pen opened his eyes.

* * *

 

Marshall Lee couldn't believe his eyes. That kid was standing up with sword in hand! He should've remain unconscious for a day or two not stand up after only a minute, but there he was standing up once again, and he look stronger than before. Now he was sure that the kid wasn't human at all, a normal human would've been defeated with the very first punch!

" MARSHALL!" - Pen called out, but this time Marshall could read the emotion on his voice. - "FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE! YOU WILL PAY!" - Pen then ran up to Marshall who was still in his demonic monstrous form in an instant. How did he get so fast!

He sent his tentacles to attack be they were like wet paper against Pen's new found strength. Marshal tried sending all his arms to stomp on Pen once again, but the boy just kept dodging his attacks. Pen kept running until he was at the perfect distance. The boy jumped to attack Marshall's giant monster head.

"Ha! Fool! Now I got you!" - That brat didn't know that aerial attacks aren't safe; you can't dodge in the air. Marshall grew two more arms and squashed Pen in a giant clap. Marshall intertwined his fingers so he could apply more pressure. Now Marshall was sure of his victory!

But his victory was short lived as Pen used his swords to cut off the fingers of both hands that tried to crush him a moment ago. Marshall cried out in pain. That hurt really bad! Pen took advantage of Marshall's pain and jumped once more and with both hands, stabbed his sword on Marshall's forehead!

"!RWAAAAAAAH!"- Marshall's roar in pain was deafening but Pen wasn't bothered by it. "Now let's see if this works" Pen was going to use his last resort. He let go his right arm from his sword and began making hand signs.

Marshall widened his eyes. He recognized those signs! Those were for the seals of Magik! But which ones? What he was trying to cast?! As Pen shouted the Spell he made each hand seal accordingly.

Nethlek - "' **Kee! "**

Redgormor - **"Oth!"**

Narokath **\- "Rama!"**

Pargon **\- "PANCAKE!"**

Marshall felt how his power was suddenly drained from him and was losing control over his transformed body. "AAAAAAAaaaaaahhhh!" was all that was heard before the explosion of light. Marshall was on the ground looking skyward, His body was full of cuts and bruises, and he was missing a few fingers. He couldn't believe it! This kid. This kid. He…

Pen was over him breathing heavily, his strength almost depleted, and barely holding his sword. Marshall just looked at Pen not revealing any emotion. -"What are you going to do now, kid?

"Tell me where Wildberry Princess is!- Pen felt his legs turning into jelly but stood. He couldn't fail, not here not now.

"And what if I refuse? What will you do then? – Marshall answered again with an emotionless tone.

"Stop it! Stop messing around or I'll…" - He left the threat hanging.

"You'll what?"- Marshall still didn't show any emotion but his voice betrayed him, he daring Pen to do it. - "What are you going to do?"

Pen raised his sword in front of his face with the tip pointing at Marshall's head. - "I'll…I'll…" - why couldn't he do it? He had slain monsters before, and the teen at his feet was a Demon, he was evil, he ate Bartram, and he deserved it.

"Come on! Do it! Do it right know!" - Marshall kept insisting with that annoying daring tone.

Pen raised his sword over his head. "AAAAHHH" and in an instant he pulled it down. And then there was nothing but the sound of the wind.

Until Marshall laughed.

"Heh ha hahaha"- the sword was buried next to his head barely grazing his cheek. Pen's whole body trembled. He couldn't bring himself to finish Marshall. In the end he failed. Pen felt his consciousness leaving him again. Then he heard a familiar sound. I was a bray.

"B-bar Bar?" It was the last he said before losing consciousness.

* * *

When Pen opened his eyes he was met by a very familiar ceiling. - "Am..I in the Tree Fort?" – He wondered out-loud. Why he was here? The last thing he remembered…

"Pen! Thank goodness you're ok!"- said a female voice that Pen thought would never hear again.

"WildBerry Princess!" - He tried to up but he was met with a lot of pain. "Gaah!"

"Don't get up! You need to rest" The princess gently pushed him down back to bed.

"Wildberry Princess! What is going on? What are we doing here?" -  He was inside a small bedroom where he slept when he decided to stay the night in the fort. Before Wildberry could answer, a voice intervened

"I'll tell you what's going on" Standing on the door frame was the last person he expected to see (next to the Ice Prince of course!)

"Marshall! What are you doing here?!"- He tried to get up again before Marshall could attack

"Pen,Wait!" - But WB Princess held him back.

"Princess he's a demon I have to stop him before…"-

"PLEASE! STOP!" the princess' plead was enough to calm him down for a second

"P-Princess…?"- Why she stopped him, couldn't she see that they were on danger?

"You better do what your girlfriend says or you'll hurt yourself"- Marshall was silently enjoying Pen's little outbursts but now it wasn't the time for that.

"G..girlfriend?"- …Wildberry blushed at his insinuation, while Pen just ignored it.

"The only one that is going to get hurt is you" said Pen with renewed anger. It seems that Marshall really left an impression on him.

"Please Pen! Marshall isn't bad" - she tried to calm him once more, if he tried to get up he was only going to get hurt.

"Not bad! He… he ate…" He felt like crying. He lost his best friend at the hands of the demon standing at the door.

"Hey,hey, hey! Dude calm down! I didn't eat anyone today." Marshall said with a surprisingly apologetic tone. When he said that a figured entered through the door, it almost hit Marshall on its way in. it was Bartram!

"Bar Bar! You're alive" - when Bartram was close enough, Pen got up again and hugged his best friend. - "Bar Bar! I'm so happy you're alive!" - Pen still cried tears but these were from happiness (and a little bit of pain). Wildberry was so glad that Pen didn't feel sad anymore, she could bare to see the boy in such state. -"I'm so glad you're here, Bar Bar! But tell me how did you survive?"- The boy was curious he was sure he had lost his friend.

"Like I said before, I didn't eat him. I just put him in my mouth and trapped him in a sphere of the same black substance my body was made of, and when you weren't looking I spat him out!"- Marshall intervened once again, explaining how Bartram was safe the whole time.

"But why do that in the first place?"- Pen said in a rude tone, Marshall may not had eaten Bartram but that didn't mean he wasn't still angry at him.

"Well there's a reason for that" said Marshall still looking apologetic. -"I was testing you!" that answer confused the heck out of Pen.

"Testing me?" – what was he talking about?

"You see, when I first came to this land a few month ago, I was roaming around the place, taking the view, tasting the food, maybe getting into some fights"..Marshall laughed at that one, he always remembered with glee all the good fights. -"As I was saying, during my journey I heard about a great hero who lived around the Grass Lands. I heard stories about how he defeated all the monsters that caused troubles, and saved people from all kind of danger. What surprised me the most was the fact that this hero was in fact a kid, a human kid." – Pen was kind of surprised, was he really that well-know that his adventures were told as grand stories? That was cool. -"So I decided to see how tough you really were! And see for myself if the stories were that's why I was here, and let me tell you I'm impressed." – Marshall said with a smile in his face as if everything that happened was just a merry joke.

"Dude you kicked me out of my Tree fort" – Pen was as angry as before but he was still very annoyed by the teenager in front of him.

"That was part of the test! To see if you could handle surprise especially inside your comfort zone!- Marshall quickly replied –"Also the scary face was to see if you could handle jump scares!" - He stopped a second to chuckle and said –"You really handle it very well! Other "tough" guys I met wet their pants when I did the same to them!" – Pen blushed a little; it was embarrassing thinking about what would've happened if he hadn't went to the bathroom before going to the fort. Then he thought of something.

"Hey wait a minute, if everything was a test then why did you attack us as if it was a battle to the death? I thought I was going to die!" – Now it was Marshall's turn to blush

"Well you see… I didn't think you were going to be that difficult to beat. You just kept coming back for more and you kinda… force my hand a few times" he admitted a bit flustered –"You're one tough little man!" – Not only Pen didn't go down with that first punch (that could knock down a giant btw) he even keep up with one of his many demonic transformations, heck, the kid used a four point "area of dispel and power suppression" spell on him. (Thank glob he was aligned to the house of Mantorok).

"What about WildBerry Princess? What did you capture her?" – Pen was angry again, how could he drag her into this test? 

"Well. You see…" – Marshall didn't know what to say, but WildBerry intervened.

"Well Pen, what happened was that when I came to the Fort, Marshall Lee came down and he…" - He what? What did he do to her?

"I just say 'Boo' kinda loud and she fainted" - WB covered her face with her hands, she felt so embarrassed for fainting so easily! On her defense Marshall said he was going to eat her. - "After a few minutes she woke up and I ended up apologizing" – He did feel a little bad for scaring her like that! But he didn't expect her to faint with such a crude scare.

"And I accepted his apology" – finished WB explaining the whole situation.

"Oh! ….ok." - He didn't know what to feel, he didn't feel angry at Marshall anymore, yes he made him think that he was evil and did all those horrible things but in the end all turn out to be a prank. A very mean prank, but a prank nonetheless. And his injuries were kind of because of his own persistence. He just had to keep coming back for more punishment. Although he was in pain he felt pride in himself because that meant his pushed a strong guy Marshall beyond his restrains.

But part of him was still mad, because he just went through a lot of emotional stuff and the payoff was really disappointing. But in the end everything turned out to be fine. And now all could go back to normal. Speaking of going back…

"So Marshall… now that the test is over and stuff, does that mean I can have the Tree Fort back?" - Marshall looked at him with a questioning loo.

"What are you talking about? I never said something like that" – Now Pen was annoyed one more time.

"What? But I passed your test!"- Marshall just grinned at him.

"Yes, and you won the battle but if I remember correctly, before we began fighting you said you were looking for the princesses, and I said "I you want her you have to beat me" so yeah you beat me and you won the princess back! If you want your Fort back you'll have to fight me again!" - After he finished Marshall start chuckling at the look on Pen's face.

"Dude! You can't be serious!" – Even though he won he didn't want to fight Marshall again, who knows what kind of attack or tricks he'll use next time.

"Oh! But I'm dead serious. But maybe we could make a deal" – oh boy! Talk about a deal with the devil. But Pen did want his Tree Fort back.

"What do you want?" – He hopped Marshall doesn't ask for his soul or something

"I'll give you the Fort back under one condition" – Pen didn't like the sound of that –"I'll let you have your Fort back if you let my crash in here! How does it sound? Great, right?" Pen didn't know what to say to that, either option meant that he had to deal with Marshall one way or the other. - "I'll sweeten the deal; if you let me stay here I'll help you make it even better, so we can throw parties and whatnot! Heck! I'll even help you when something turns sour in your adventures! I'm always up for a good fight." –

Pen thought this one real hard. If he accepted Marshall would keep the place for him and even make it better. Also having a Demonic ally was a great asset if thing were to turn south, on the other hand if he refused he wouldn't be able to come back until he defeated Marshall again in battle and that was something he didn't want to repeat anytime soon. So it was obvious what his answer was.

"You have a deal Marshall Lee" he said with a defeated tone.

"Hey thanks little dude! I'll take the couch tonight you may stay there and rest!" – Suddenly Pen remembered something.

"Shoot! I have to tell Mom and Dad ..ouch" In this worry he tried to sit up and strained his muscles. Bartram being the bro that he was reassured Pen that he'll go back to the house and explain what had happened. "Thanks Bar Bar! You're the best!" The boy hugged his mule friend once more before he went to inform the Mertens.

As Bartram left the room Marshall followed suit but before he left he had to make one more sassy comment. - "Well, I'll leave you two love birds alone, also if you want to smooch I promise I'll not tell anybody" - Then he left for the comfort of the couch.

The only two occupants left in the room were blushing like there was no tomorrow. Both of them remembering the time they kissed a week ago. They remained quiet until Pen broke the silence. - "Don't let Marshall get to you! He seems like the kind of guy who says stuff just because"- Wilberry just nodded in agreement. "So…you wanted to see me?" Pen was trying to avoid an awkward silence.

WildBerry just blushed a little more but after a few seconds she answered -"Yes, I wanted to see you we could …just…" – she really didn't know what she wanted with Pen, her thoughts and feelings were all so confusing.

They remained in silence, both with hundred of thoughts running through their heads, wondering that the other was thinking. WildBerry was the more conflicted of the two, her fear was coming true, things got awkward between the two, and they would never be able to see each other again the same way. She needed a miracle.

As if fate was on her side Marshall appeared on the door once again –"Ah Princess! Here is your pie! I forgot to give it back. Don't worry its fine. Also here's a fork and the bottle juice. That's everything. Ok bye. – He just came and went fast as lightning.

"Oh! You brought a pie!"- Pen was thankful for Marshall Intervention. Finally, something to talk about.

"Yes I made it myself" She replied shyly. She too was thanking Marshall in her mind. "It is a meat pie, do you want some?"- At that exact moment Pen's stomach rumbled, he hadn't eaten since breakfast.

"I'll gladly have a piece" Or the whole thing more likely. As he tried to reach for the fork, his arms started to hurt.-"Ouch!" – He hadn't notice before but he was in a lot of pain

"Are you ok, Pen ?" –She was worried for him; she didn't like seeing him in pain.

"Sorry, Princess but I can't use my arms right now!" - Now that his mind wasn't busy with Marshall or trying to come up with a topic to talk with WB; his mind returned to concentrate on the pain. Flop! And he was really hungry right now.

"Wildberry Princess, could you please help me?"- The he had an idea. 

"How?" – she wasn't sure what Pen had in min.

"Could you please feed me?"- It was a great idea, he only hoped that the princess wouldn't object

"F..feed you" Feeding someone was an intimate act that only people real close to each other could do.

"Yes, if you don't mind" he said calmly but in his mind was thinking 'Please don't mind! I'm starving'.

Wilberry Princess couldn't refuse, he needed help and she was the only one who could. -"Well ok! – She took the fork started feeding him. She couldn't believe she was doing this. After a first mouthful, WB's mind became clouded with doubts. What if he didn't like it? Would he spit it out? Or he would try to eat the pie to spare her feelings and became sick? She didn't know which was worst.

"This…this is Delicious!" - exclaimed the boy after gulping. - "It's one of the best pies I've ever tasted!" –It really was, and he wanted more

"Really?" WildBerry was relieved and happy at the same time. So she happily continued to feed Pen.

What they didn't know was that Marshall was on the other room resting on the couch listening to them thanks to his augmented hearing. He smiled when Pen and Wildberry began chatting more comfortable with each other.

"Those two. They're gonna be alright" – Then he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) A cookie for the first one to recognize where the shirt comes from.
> 
> (2) Marshall isn't a vampire he is a full Demon, he has a different mother than Marceline.
> 
> (3) Yes I went there. Couldn't stop myself.
> 
> (4) Did I just write the first draft for a bad Marshall x Wildberry Princess x OC story ever? Man I don't know how to feel, but if you want to write that story please send me a PM with the link.
> 
> Also it was strange for me thinking like a 15-year old girl obsessed with trashy romance novels or Mexican soup operas!
> 
> (5) Yes Joshua as in Jake's father. Was he a human or a dog? Well… That is for just me to know for now.
> 
> (6) I got nothing against Princess Bubblegum/ female (Marceline most of the times). It was just a joke so please don't be offended.


	4. What is the meaning of Life?

It's been a week and a half since Pen accepted Marshall's deal of crashing at the Tree Fort. And let me tell you, he was pleasantly surprised. Marshall kept his promise of taking care of the place. Pen expected the place to burned down by the second day, but everything was neat and in order (not too ordered; they are boys after all).

Pen also explained the situation to his parents who weren't very thrilled by the idea of their son housing a demon, but in the end they accepted it only if Marshall behaved. Marshall also kept his promise of expanding the Tree Fort, he already finished his room yesterday, it seems that if you have the ability to grow extra arms and sets of eyes, you become accustomed to multitask, add incredible strength to the mix and you get the perfect workman. So now that Marshall had a room, he wouldn't have to sleep in the couch anymore (although it was very comfy).

During this past week and a half Pen and Marshall got to know each other a little more. At first Pen was apprehensive of telling Marshall stuff about himself, but if Marshall was going to stay for an indefinite amounted of time, they had to learn to get along, so that meant telling each other stories of their past. Marshall did most of the talking since he was 500 years old and had tons of stories and tales about his journeys. He didn't mention much about his family so Pen figured out that either Marshall didn't feel comfortable talking about them, or didn't wanted to tell since they just have met a few days ago.

But one thing Pen had learn very early about Marshall was that he loved messing around with people, generally with little pranks here and there, or scaring random people who happen to pass near the Tree Fort. Marshall's pranks were always in good fun and never mean (well too mean). So during his daily visits/inspections; Pen learned to be on the watch-out because Marshall's pranks could come from anywhere at any second. And today was no exception.

Pen was spending his free day at the Tree Fort playing with his sentient video game console, who had missed being played by Pen. Pen was concentrating very hard; he was trying to recover the highest score from Marshall who had beaten Pen's previous highest score by 500,000 points. He was so invested in the game that he didn't notice his "tenant" carrying a big black plastic bag into the room.

"Come on…come on" – Pen said under just breath, he was almost there, he just needs survive one more minute! His character was blasting of enemies while avoiding deadly traps that could end his virtual life in an instant. - "Just a few more!" -The enemies were coming faster in unpredictable patterns, but Pen was in the zone, his reflexes were sharp, and his character reflected that avoiding certain death by just milliseconds. - "I'm gonna do it! I gonna do it!" – he was so close just a few more seconds!

"NEW HIGH SCORE!" – said the screen in big flashy letters. Pen was ecstatic. -"YES! "- he did it! He beat Marshall's score! He was so happy he could dance. But his victory dance was prematurely interrupted when a plastic bag fell on him sputtering him with butter.

"Congrats! You did it! I hope you liked your surprise!" Marshall was laughing his buns off looking at Pen's bewildered face.

"Marshall Lee, that was your last prank because now you have awaken a beast that will not rest until we are even, and that means I'm gonna prank you hard!" - Marshall would've found that declaration worrying, if he weren't the Prankster King himself.

"Yeah, whatever you say Pen. Now, I haven't sleep since yesterday, so I'm going to sleep an all-day-nap"- Marshall ended with a yawn and went directly to his new bedroom.

"Sleep peaceful now Marshall 'cause when you awake I'll be upon you with great vengeance!"- announced Pen to the closed door that led to Marshall room, but he was met with snoring on the other side. - "Now I just need to think of a prank that can top Marshall's prank, but what?" – As he pondered this, he noticed the slippery he felt. "I better take a bath first then I can think about my vengeance!"-.

* * *

 

After going back home, taking a shower and changed clothes, Pen was thinking what he could do to prank Marshall. He was sitting inside the kitchen were the breakfast table was. He was writing down possible ideas when Mr. Mertens entered the kitchen and saw him.

"What's up, my boy?" – Mr. Mentens said trying to sound hip and cool, but he ended up sounding ridiculous.

"Nothing Dad. I'm just thinking on a prank to get back to Marshall Lee." – Pen sounded discouraged. He had been thinking for an hour straight but he couldn't find the perfect prank to top Marshall's.

Mr. Mertens along with his wife weren't thrilled with having Marshall Lee "crashing", like the youth said, at the Tree Fort and spending time with Pen (demons weren't well known for being good role models) but as long as the 500-year-old teen behaves, they were ok with it.

"What did he do?" – It must have been a big one if Pen had spent so much time thinking in a counter prank.

"He bathed me in Butter"- responded Pen.

"*whistle*. That was good one"- Mr. Mertens was impressed by that. Getting enough butter must've been a pain. "Got anything yet?" – He asked his son, maybe he could help him

"No. All the ideas I had can't compare with a bath by bag of butter!"- There was no way. He better accept defeat.

Mr. Mertens saw his son defeated look and said-"Well, sometimes getting good ideas isn't as easy as pie, but can quit now. I'm sure you'll think something!" – Suddenly Pen perked up.

"That's it! Thanks Dad!" as he said that he ran outside going god-knows-where.

"Wait, What did I said?" He was confused; sometimes he couldn't understand Pen's thought process.

* * *

 

After Pen ran out of the house he went to a shed next to the barn where he usually stored some junk his family could sell as scraps or used in some way or another. His Father had given him an idea to beat Marshall's bag of butter. Pies! But not just pies, never ending pies to the face! So he decided to make a Never Ending Pie Throwing Robot.

He took all the components necessary for his robot. An oven for body; a tuning fork for the arm; tank thread so it could move around; some cables and a circuit board because robots had those, right? And finally a can because why not?

After he finished assembling him, Pen was excited to see what his robot could do. -"Come on, dude! Turn on!" -he pushed one of his buttons but it didn't do anything. Why wasn't anything happening? Did he miss something? Pen though carefully for a moment until he snapped his fingers. - "That's it! Maybe I could use a magic spell to bring him to life!" –

A few days after their battle Marshall asked Pen where he learned to used the "Seals of Magik" and more importantly the four point "area of dispel and power suppression" spell at which Pen answered with a very eloquent "Uh?". That afternoon Marshall explained to him that this "seals" were a "Magic Art" that helped to focus magic energy and the casting of spells. It was an archaic way of performing magic and that it was a lost art.

There were a lot of symbols that were lost in time but Marshall told him that with the "Essential Ten" seals you could do pretty much anything. These symbols were: **Bankorok** (protect) , **Tier** (summon), **Narokath** (absorb) , **Nethlek** (Dispel), **Antorbok** (project), **Magormor** (object), **Redgomor** (Area), **Arekat** (creature), **Santak** (self) and **Pargon** (power).

These seals could be combined to create and cast all sort of different spells. Marshall also motioned something about alignments or some stuff like that. It was very long and he kinda zoned out, until Marshall asked if he wanted him to teach him. The answer was obvious.

So now Pen chose to test his new found skills to give his robot life. But what seals to use? He remembered the most basic spell was "Enchantment" Spell which could give a chosen item certain properties for a limited amount of time. A more advanced spell was the "Summon Creature" spell that Marshall advice him to avoid until he practiced more, but if he combined both the summon and the enchantment spells, he could made a new spell and still follow Marshall's advice.

The "trick" for casting spells using the seals of Magik is to create sentences; **Bankorok** , **Tier** , **Narokath** , **Nethlek** and **Antorbok** were verbs; **Margomor** , **Redgomor** , **Arekat** and **Santak** were nouns; and **Pargon** was an Adjective. One just has to create a congruent "sentence" while making the seal; his could be by using hand signs or by writing/carving runes. As for the "chant" or "magic words" were only to sound and look cool (something about picking up chicks or something). Pen had to admit, he kinda understood why ancient practitioners of this lost art tried that. The whole "create congruent sentences" thing made it sound like "school" and "Nerd Stuff" something only eggheads would do.

Now the only thing he got to do was to combine the appropriate seals in order and come up with a cool sounding incantation.

 **Tier** - **Arekat** \- **Antorbok** – **Magormor** (Summon Creature and Project Item) –" **Enchantment by Spirit Possession!** "- Pen decided to use normal words instead of the gibberish that was the " **Kee Oth Rama Pancake"** chant.

As he finished both the hand signs and the incantation, two magic circles appeared around Pen and his robot signifying who cast the spell and which object was meant to be "enchanted/possessed".

Now this is something Pen isn't aware of but what he was doing not only was foolish, it was downright dangerous. He didn't know how the "Summon Creature" spell worked. The SC spell opens a portal for a specific kind of creature; the creature you summon depends on the alignment of the spell caster, along with intention and state of mind. All three aspects must be balanced by the will of the caster to get a desired result, let it be a monster or a spirit.

Now the creature you summon, will be under direct control of the caster, once the creature fulfills it caster's purpose he had to be sent back by severing the magical connection the caster creates between the creature, him and the planes of existence which the creature resided and to where it was summoned.

But what Pen was doing was giving the creature/spirit a physical body to reside in negating the need of the connection between the user and the planes letting the creature remain in the plane where it was summoned. Meaning that the only way to send back the creature to its own dimension is to use the appropriate spell.

If a creature was a low level demon/monster/spirit, a simple "dispel area" spell was all that was needed, but if the creature was mid to high level, you needed to use more complex spells that required the counter alignment of the creature.

Since Pen didn't know how to balance the inner forces that where required for a successful spell; who knows what kind of creature he was summoning and what were the requirements to defeat it once it went rouge, I mean, what kind of creature would want to be trapped inside a crude robot throwing never ending pies at people!

In one of the different and unique dimensional planes of existence a creature was abducted from its resting place and was been forcibly shoved into the robot. No! It thought, He didn't want this! But he couldn't do anything. The only thing clear in its mind was his desire to rip to shreds the one responsible for this! Then a bolt of lightning struck the little robot.

You see, in a twist of fate a wild electric charge cloud was moving just over the barn, but when Pen cast the spell, it was instantly attracted to the energies that were being unleashed down on the ground, and the electric bolt struck the magical charged metal robot. Which affected the complete result of the " **Enchantment by Spirit Possession"** spell.

Pen, unaware of the possible disaster he could've unleashed on Ooo, was confused. -"What just happened?" – He then ran worried to his robot. The robot then started moving finally gaining consciousness.

"Greeting Creator my name is NEPTR, which stands for Never Ending Pie Throwing Robot!" – It seems that the spirit which previously wanted to murder Pen in a gory fashion lost his sense of self and existence and accepted his new programming and fate as NEPTR.

"Whoa! You can talk! Awesome!" this was better than he expected to be.

"Creator, I am eager to commence the creation and propulsion of pies forever, but my pie-throwing appendage is... malfunctioning" he tried to move his tuning fork arm but it barely could. –"And my oven lamp is cold" – he continued with a sad tone –"and my tank treads do not roll! They only do skids!" – NEPTR tried moving around on his own but like he said he could only skid. - "Why, creator?! Does it please you to watch me struggle?!"-  he finally said with a tone of desperation. This was his life? To be unable to do the only thing he could do? To have a purpose that he would forever fail at? Is this the meaning of his life?

"Don't say stuff like that NEPTR!" – wow, déjà vu. Pen never liked seeing other people in problems. –" I know we just met, and you're probably going through a lot of personal stuff right now, but I really like you, NEPTR, and I'm not gonna rest until you're working properly and throwing hot pie on Marshall's face! What do you say to that?" - Pen created NEPTR and it was his responsibility to help and take care of him.

"I'll always love you, creator!" - NEPTR was happy; his creator will help him so he could finally do his purpose in life and understand what it meant to be alive.

Pen didn't know how to answer that declaration of "love/loyalty" –Umm..thanks NEPTR. – He decided he would deal with it later, now he needed to help NEPTR. –"I don't think a "recovery" spell would help" Pen pondered out-loud. Since NEPTR wasn't made of flesh he didn't know if it would help him or affect him in any other way. Pen concluded that what might have given NEPTR his "life" was a combination of magic and lighting. So he needed someone who could do both. Pen turned and looked at the Ice Kingdom Mountains in the distance. -"All we need is more magic lightning power so you can be operating at full capacity! And I think I know just where we can get some from." 

* * *

 

Pen had to improvise to get a mean of transport to take him and NEPTR to the Ice Kingdom. Bartram was unavailable since Mom and Dad had to go to some of the nearby towns and kingdoms to sell or trade their crops, and needed Bartram to pull the cart.

Pen took out of his back pack some of those magic balloons that were left after a Party in the Candy Kingdom. If he inflated all the balloons with the right amount of air, he could use them to travel from the Tree Fort to the Ice Kingdom and back.

After inflating all the balloons he had, Pen took NEPTR and put him in his back pack -"Where are we going creator?" – NEPTR was sure if he liked the idea of flying

"Don't worry NEPTR! We are going to get some lightning and get you fixed up! Just Hold on tight!" - Then, both boy and robot started floating their way into the Ice Kingdom.

The trip was uneventful and quick, perfect for a stealth mission. When they arrived at the open window that served as an easy entrance to the castle, Pen took a stick and nailed to the side of the mountain where he could tie the balloons. They were gonna come in handy if they needed a quick escape.

Once inside, Pen quickly jumped behind an ice pillar, he didn't know were Ice Prince was or what he was doing but he needed to sneak in with the most stealth he could. –"Creator, isn't breaking and entering wrong?" – NEPTR was confused, why were they doing this if that was a bad thing? Pen just shushed him

"We gotta be sneaky if we don't want Ice Prince to notice us"

"But Creator, I thought heroes didn't do bad things!" – The coast was clear so Pen tried to answer NEPTR's questions the best he could, If he didn't the little robot would continue to ask him causing them to be found out.

"NEPTR….Umm…" - Pen wasn't sure how to explain this moral dilemma without confusing NEPTR – "Not every situation can be seen in black and white".

"I don't quite understand, Creator" – What does color perception has to anything? 

"It means that no always we can tell between what is right and wrong or good and evil. This situation for example, we need lightening to help you, and Ice Prince is the only one that has them, but Ice Prince would never give us the lightning because he's kind of a jerk, so we have to break in. Helping you is the right thing to do but breaking in is wrong too and together they make the situation 'grey'. Do you understand now?" – Pen tried his best but he wasn't sure if NEPTR would be able to understand.

"I don't think so, Creator" – Why does life had to be so confusing?

"NEPTR, sometimes there is no right or wrong so you just have to choose between the two, and hope you're doing the right choice." – Pen hoped NEPTR understood this, because he was running out of things to say, He was 13 for Pete sake.

Pen began sneaking through the living room searching for Ice Prince's stash of lightning. It seemed that Ice Prince wasn't home. As Pen was about to relax, a voice rang throughout the room.

"Finally! Home sweet home!"- It was Ice Prince! Pen quickly dived out of the open before he was spotted. –"Taking a break was such a great idea, don't you think so Jake?" – Ice Prince entered the room in his usual "royal" get-up, carrying a blue travel-back in right hand/pincer. Alongside him wasn't his Snow-Dog Jake but a penguin.

When the Prince didn't hear his dog answering he turn around and looked at the penguin –"Gunter, where's Jake? I could swear he was behind us" – the penguin looked up to the Prince's face –"Wenk, Wenk"- Surprisingly the blue man could understand it. –"Just how many more trees do that dog has to mark as his own"- he sighed in a tone that said 'not again' –"Well, it doesn't matter! Jake can take care of himself, and return once he finishes."- The prince wouldn't let Jake's activities damper his mood.

Meanwhile Pen was behind an ice pillar trying to control his breathing. Shoot! This was going to be more difficult than expected. Pen just needed the Ice King to distract himself long enough for them to escape from the room. What he didn't expect was NEPTR opening his mouth–"Creator, if we get caught, I want you to know that I will always love you" – Pen just shushed at him, and whispered very lowly.

"We're not going to get caught and we will get you to work properly." – He really mean it, NEPTR was his responsibility.

"Wenk?" – Asked the penguin know as Gunter –"What was what?"- The prince didn't quite understand it –"Gunter, you know how this place has weird noises all the time, so forget about it!" – The prince just got back from his break and didn't want to deal with Gunter nonsense. –"Now! I shall check the holo-computer to see if I got new messages. Gunter! Bring me my arm for the computer"- The Ice Prince then took off his mechanical arm and gave it to the Penguin.

Gunter took the arm in his flippers and walked to a cupboard where he stored the arm and took out another. This new arm was similar in design as the first one except this new arm ended in a hand with lots of fingers. They were very slim, definitely designed for tapping buttons.

After he set in his new arm Ice Prince sat down on his throne made of ice pulling a small folding table from besides the throne with the holo-computer on top. -"Now. Let's see!"- He began tapping the keys with his right "Keyboard tapping" hand. After a minute he just sighed in disappointment. -"No new messages and no one answered to my "looking for date" request!" - It's not that Ice Prince was ugly per-se, but he could've chosen a better picture for his profile! He chose a photo of him trying a "sexy" face but ended up as "creepy". Also even before his recent kidnapping attempts, he had a reputation of been a cranky loner who wasn't all that sane.

"Well I guess it is just you and me, Babe" – The prince said as he opened up a window with the video game "Battle Babe" –"Tonight, you and me, final level, what do you say, Babe?" – He asked the computer as if it could answer back –"Yes, I know! I missed you too."- He continued playing determined to get to the last level.

Pen who had been hiding behind the pillar the whole time, took the opportunity to escape the room now that the Prince was distracted. Pen used the slippery ice floor in his advantage and slid behind pillar after pillar.

Gunter who was next to the prince's throne noticed the movement of strange figures and quickly turned to the blue man playing and tried to get his attention.-"Wenk,wenk,wenk!"- Gunter pulled the prince's blue cape.

"Not now! Gunter!" – The prince ignored the penguin kept playing. Gunter saw the figures make their way out of the room and kept insisting for attention. "First boss! Now he's gonna get it!" – As he was about to keep playing, Gunter took his right arm and pulled it.

"Wenk, wenk!" – "Gunter!? What are you doing?! Wait!" – Ice Prince tried to keep playing but with his "Tapping" arm being pulled by the penguin, it was difficult to concentrate, then the first boss, a giant frog, casted Super Magic Missiles and destroyed Battle Babe on the screen.

"No, Babe!"- He cried in surprise, he never lost in the first boss –"Gunter! Look at what you did!" – He was angry; his poor Babe was killed by that stupid frog! And it was Gunter's fault. "What do you want?" – Just what was so important to interrupt his precious game –

"Wenk, Wenk!"- "What?! intruders?! Are you sure?" – Ice Prince was skeptical. –"Aren't you just seeing things because of exhaustion? I mean, we walked a lot and you aren't really in shape." He knelt down and took Gunter by his slippers – "Just look at these arms! And you stomach. You better lay off the candies." - Gunter was losing its patience. Sometimes it wondered why they tried so hard, and then Gunter remembered that the blue man in front of him gave its fellow penguins a home out of harm's way, especially bears. The Prince gave them a place to stay at night and they took care of him. But right now Gunter needed to make him listen.

"Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk!"- "Ok! If that were true, why hasn't my security system gone off, huh? What do you sat to that? – Gunter response was that at in that exact moment the alarms rang throughout the whole castle.

"Alarm! Alarm! Alarm!" – The Ice Toads voices said loud and clear.

Gunter just looked at the Prince with a look that said "told you so" but before he could voice those thoughts, the Ice Prince just stood up and turned his face away from the penguin "Don't….don't say anything" – He just took off his arm and laid it in the table. - "No time for getting another arm!" – His "tapping" arm wasn't designed for combat, and he could afford to replace it if it gets damaged in battle. -"As if I need TWO arms! One is enough!" – He finally turned and ran in search of the intruders.

* * *

 

After escaping the room, slipping on the floor, activate the alarm system and being chased by an Ice Bull, Pen and NEPTR finally made it to their objective. A strange contraption that stored several Lightnings in stasis, powering the entire castle's electric work.

"Are those things what we're looking for, Creator?" – asked NEPTR marveled at the brightness of the immobile lightning.

"Yes, and with them you can become fully functional" – Pen was trying to come up with a plan to get one lightning without electrocuting himself, but his thoughts were cut short by the arrival of the Ice Prince.

"You! You're that Pen brat!"- Ice Prince was angry, a little part of him expected to find a cute girl, and now he was completely disappointed. –"I don't know why you're here, but I promise that you will not get what you are looking for!"- Even without his arm the Prince had the home advantage.

"Ice-o-pedes! Attack!" – Aw yeah! The Ice-o-pedes were one of his most resilient and combat oriented creatures in his army of Ice & Snow.

"Wenk, wenk!"- Except that no Ice-o-pede came. -"What do you mean they aren't coming?" He turned in anger to the commander of all his armed forces, Gunter.

"Wenk!" –"Mating season?!" – He was astonished. –"What happened with my "Ice-Blocking" Law that says that no citizen in the Ice Kingdom can have more than the Prince"- Why does everyone keeps breaking his Kingdom's rules and laws?

"Wenk, wenk, wenk!"- was Gunter's answer.

Ice Prince had to stop at that–"Yes you got a point. They are more like local fauna than citizens, but that doesn't explain why my commander failed to inform me!" – He may not be able to stop the mating season but he could find someone to blame- "Wenk!" –"What? You told me? When?" – While Ice Prince was distracted discussing the problems within his armed forces, specially his inability to pay attention to his commander. Pen tried to steal the lightning and escape before they notice he was still in the room.

As he was about to take the lightning an ice beam destroyed the machine and the lightning with it. –"Ha! With or without Ice-o-pedes I can still destroy you!" – Ice Prince followed that statement by moving his cape out off the way showing his lack of arm –"And even without one arm!" – He used his only arm to throw Ice Beams at Pen but the boy was agile as ever. But agility could only work so much in a closed space and with a slippery floor.

"Aaah!" Pen slipped on the icy floor and was at the mercy of the prince, but something else caught his attacker attention, NEPTER had fallen out of his back pack.

"What is that?" - Why was that brat carrying a robot? Well it didn't matter.

"I'll put an end to your toy first!" – As he was preparing an ice beam a thought came to mind. **-Let's use Lightning!-** And he felt compelled to obey. It was his brain after all! Pen saw the Ice Prince preparing to attack NEPTR. He couldn't let that happen, He had to protect him. He quickly stood up and jumped in the way of the attack.

The Prince saw Pen jumped in front of the lightning attack and in less than a second reacted. He controlled the lightning to go over the boy and hit his intended target. He didn't know why he did it he just did. He Prince stopped his train of thought the moment his attack struck the robot. He felt his energy been drained into NEPTR.

"NOOOOO!" – Pen yelled in frustration, he failed at protecting his creation, no his new friend. But before he could start feeling sorry for himself, NEPTR spoke up.

"Creator! I'm fully functional!" – Pen was so relieved that NEPTR was alright and better than ever.

"That's great NEPTR! Now let's get out of here!" – Pen picked up NEPTR and got the flop out of there.

"No! Wait!" – The Prince was hunched resting his arm on his knee; he was out of breath as if he just ran a marathon. As he recovered he started thinking about what happened.

 **-I have to get that robot!-** But why? He wasn't important, they didn't even take anything. - **He now possesses my power, it gave him life, and he is mine! -** What does that mean? - **I am his father!-** Wait! I'm not ready for kids! I can't be a father. - **Then he is my little brother.-** Yes, I need to get my little brother back!

He was still tired but he needed to get his little brother, he slowly straightened and turned to Gunter -"Gunter! Bring me my arm! I'll have to chase them!" – While he waited for the Penguin to come back, the prince tried to regulate his breathing to a calmer one to get a little bit of energy back.

While Pen and NEPTR tried to go back to the royal living room and make their escape, an Ice Bull fell from the ceiling and gave chase to our heroes. –"Do not worry, Creator! I'll handle this!" – NEPTR, from Pen's back pack, started throwing pies in a rapid manner at the Ice Bull's eyes, making him crash to the wall breaking itself into tiny little pieces.

"Good job, NEPTR! But what was in those pies anyways?" – Pen didn't find it strange that NEPTR threw pies that came from nowhere; he just assumed it was a combination of technology and magic.

"Just boysenberry. Hahaha. And also... poison"- Ok, that was kinda creepy.

Once they got to the living room, Pen jumped through the same window they entered in, grabbed the balloons and got the heck out of there.

Five minutes later the Prince came and looked through the same window, he was feeling a lot better now that he rested and he had his trademark arm with pincer hand. –"Shoot! I need to catch up!"- That moment, a familiar bark was heard. –"Jake! Buddy, come here I need you!" – Jake approached confused, what was his master's request? –"I need to catch that meddlesome kid, so I need you to grow big! And I mean REALLY big."

* * *

 

The trip from the Ice Kingdom to the Tree Fort was a quiet one, Pen was full of adrenaline by all the commotion back in the castle and NEPTR was having some strange thoughts.

"Ok! We're here" – After both boy and robot descended, Pen let go of the balloons so they could fly free up into the sky.

"I am troubled, creator." – NEPTR finally broke his silence. –"Troubled by a sudden urge to... collect princesses." – That alarmed Pen to the core, just what happened to NEPTR after he was shocked? 

"NEPTR! That's…an unsettling thing to say" – Before he could continue talking, a body fell from the sky leaving a crater where it landed. –"ICE PRINCE!" – Pen was surprised, where the heck did he come from?

"Ha! You didn't expect Jake to throw me all the way from the Ice Kingdom!" – The prince reveled in Pen's surprise. - "I got to admit Jake's aim is pretty good"- Thank glob for that! He didn't want to end up passing them over a kingdom or two.

"Ice Prince! Why did you follow me?" – Pen was worried, he didn't have a sword and the prince got his arm back. He didn't know if he could take him head on. Pen just assumed a fighting stance and expected the worst.

"I didn't came here to fight! I came here for my little brother!" – Okay… he didn't expect that.

"Your brother?!" – Pen almost lost all his words –"What are you talking about?"

The Prince just acted as if they were discussing the weather –"I'm talking about that little robot in your arms, of course!" – Why did the brat have to overreact to everything he said? But he decided to explain anyways. –"The moment he was stuck with my magic lightning he was infused with my own magic, activating his full potential, making him my son. But since I'm not ready for parenthood I settled with being a big brother"

Pen was slightly taken aback from the explanation but he still replied. –"He isn't anything yours! I created him so I should be his big brother!" – Pen too wasn't sure if he could see NEPTR as his son. He was 13 and parenthood was a topic that was far removed from his mind. While Pen was saying this, inside the Ice Prince's head, he was having a strange train of thoughts.

 **-I need that robot!-** Yes! I need to get my little brother back! - **Now that he is infused with my magic, he can follow my ultimate plan.-** We can get girls together! Chicks dig when a guy is a good brother to his little sibling. - **NO! My plan to cover this puny world in Ice and Snow!-** But I can't do that unless I become King and for that I need to marry. Once I'm married I do that thing of Ice and Snow.

"What about we let HIM decide with which one of us he wants to be!" – Suggested the Prince without worry. He was sure NEPTR would choose the side that had the Princesses.

"No! He…" –Pen stopped himself, he couldn't finish that sentence. The prince was right for once. He couldn't force NEPTR to stay on his side just because he was his creator. NEPTR could think and more importantly he could feel. And if he forced him, he was taking NEPTR's free will, and that was stuff that only evil villains did.

Pen carried NEPTR and leaved him at a fair distance between him and the Ice Prince and he walked backwards until the three of them were forming a triangle with the same distance separating them. They were in an impasse and the only one who could solve it was NEPTR.

"I am torn! I am processing a love for both princesses and the Creator!" – Ice Prince smirked at that, NEPTR only needed a push into the right direction.

"Don't worry little bro! I can show you the life you deserve!" – Ice Prince then took several photographs from inside his cape. –"Princesses! As your Big brother I will show you the marvel that is capturing them!" – The Prince threw some photos at NEPTR's direction.

There were several dozens of pictures, with Princesses of all kind. Some were just profile pictures or princesses doing their daily activities, but other were more suggestive. Water Princess in a two piece swim suit, Jungle Princess having a fight in the mud, Bubblegum Princess in her pajamas! Pen couldn't stop blushing when he peeked at some of the pictures.

"Ice Prince! Where did you get these photos?" – Pen was mad, not only was Ice Prince a jerk he was also a creepy stalker.

"Oh! Do you like them? I could give you a set of copies if you want, but they're gonna cost ya!"- The prince offered with a light grin.

"What?! I'm not a perv!" – Yes, he was a growing boy but that didn't mean he was going to buy pervy pictures. The Prince just ignored him and kept trying to convince NEPTR.

"I can show you all of my suave moves! And together we can get all the princesses we want" – The Prince then Pulled another photo.-" I happen to know that Breakfast Princess have a little sister, Toast Princess. What do you say?" – He showed the picture to NEPTR but Pen caught a peek too. It was a picture of Breakfast Princess having a pillow fight with her sister, Toast Princess, while wearing skimpy pajamas. "Or if you're not into that, you could always try robot princesses!"

NEPTR was conflicted, the life with the Ice Prince sounded like fun, but he was still loyal to his creator who gave him life and tried to fix him. But the Princesses!

Pen, after controlling his blush, looked directly at NEPTR and said. –"NEPTR, I will not tell you to come with me!" – Ice Prince chuckled at that. Yes! He was giving up. NEPTR in the other hand was confused.

"Why, Creator? Don't you like me anymore?" – His sadness was apparent in his voice.

"That's not what I meant. I will not tell you to choose me because I don't want you to feel forced. I created you, yes, but what you do with your life is your decision."- Pen stopped for a second to let the information sink in. –"Remember what I told you back in the castle. About situations when there isn't a right answer. This is one of them."- NEPTR looked at his creator silently, remembering his words. -"You just have to follow your heart and hope for the best. The choice is yours."

Pen fell silent and watched NEPTR thinking about his decision. He said his mind and hoped that NEPTR followed his heart, no matter what choice he makes. Ice Prince, meanwhile, was losing his patience. "That's enough! I'm done waiting around. Who do you choose?"- NEPTR kept looking between his two choices.

"I... uh, I... choose... Ice Prince!" – Ice Prince just pumped his hand in the air.

"Aw yeah! Ice Prince wins!" He quickly ran up to NEPTR and picked him up.

Pen just sighed and closed his eyes. It was NEPTR's decision so he had to respect his wishes.

"I'm not finished!"- Suddenly said the robot. –"I choose Ice Prince for..NEVER ENDING PIES!" – he declared loudly.

"What?!"- Ice Prince was shocked. How could his little brother choose that brat Pen over him! And before he could say some more, his face was met by a fistful of pie! -"GLOB! It got in my eyes!"-

After Ice Prince let go of him NEPTR turn around and rolled over to Pen. -"I choose you, Creator!" Pen was happy. For a moment he thought he lost NEPTR forever.

"NEPTR, you may stop call me that, just call me brother" – Then the two of them shared a hug. Now NEPTR was part of the family.

"You insolent fool!" Uh oh, the Prince was angry. –"How could you choose that brat over me!" –Seriously! Who chooses pies over princesses!?

The Prince prepared his attack, magic lightning at full force. –"I will DESTROY YOU, LITTLE BROTHER!" – Then the pain came. It was a headache like the ones he suffered before but this time it was more painful. What is it happening again?

 **-Doesn't matter! I have to destroy them.-** It hurts so much! - **Kill YOUR brother!-** I…have..to…prot...- **KILL HIM!**

This sudden distraction was enough for Pen to react, He didn't know if what he had in mind would work, but he had to give it a try. He began making Hand Signs. **Bankorok – Redgomor – Narokath – Antorbok-…** The Ice Prince threw his magic Lightning. If Pen's spell failed both him and NEPTR were toast. **Pargon! – (** Protect Area and Project Power **)- Reflective Shield!**

When the lightning was about to hit its mark and kill Pen and NEPTR, a shield made of pure light appeared between them and stopped the lightning! –"What!?" – Ice Prince couldn't believe it. The brat could do Magic! Before he could ponder more, his own attack was sent back at him. The Prince tried to dodge it but even with magic he couldn't react fast enough! The electric attack was instantly attracted to the Prince's mechanical arm made of conductive metal.

"AAAAAAAAaaarrrrrhhhh!" – The electricity ran through his arm to the rest of his body. It was one of the most painful feelings he could ever recall having. After the shock of his life, the Prince stood there, his mechanical arm completely charred and his long white hair sticking in all directions. –"N..ne't arm… no… con'u'tiv' met'l!" – He barely uttered before passing out.

Pen stood there with his legs trembling until they couldn't support his weight- "Creat..I mean, Brother! Are you alright?"- Pen looked very exhausted

"D..don't worry, NEPTR! Just let me recover my breath"- He was breathing heavily. That last spell really took out most of his energy, thank glob! It resisted long enough. That was a close one.

Then a big shadow fell on both Pen and NEPTR, Pen was astonished by what it was. It was the prince's snow-dog Jake! But he was 50 times his size. For a second Pen was scared, He was out of energy, without a weapon and his opponent was the size of a mountain. He was screwed.

But Jake didn't attack. He just neared his fallen master and picked him up, putting him on his giant back. Where Gunter and other Penguins were. Ready to attend to the unconscious Prince. Then Jake turned around ignoring Pen and NEPTR and walked back to the Ice Kingdom.

Pen and NEPTR sat in silence for a few minutes after the giant dog had left. –"We barely dodged that bullet!" – Pen started laughing; he didn't know how to feel at the moment except a mix of confusion, worry and relief so he decided to laugh it off. – "So NEPTR. Wanna prank Marshall Lee?"- His legs were finally feeling better, so he could walk again.

"Yes Brother! That is what I chose!"- They both shared a laugh and Pen carried NEPTR into the Tree Fort.

"Oh Marshall! Wake up!"- Pen said grinning from ear to ear.

"Uh? What is it Pen?" Marshall just opened his eyes for a second and his face was splattered with Pie after Pie. "AHH! My eyes! It got into my eyes!"- Both boy and robot shared a good laugh enjoying themselves; but NEPTR was the happiest because he finally understood what it meant to be alive!

* * *

"Where am I?" – asked the Prince confused, he was inside a rustic home that felt strangely familiar. "Just where in the world am I?" He felt like he knew this place but he couldn't remember from where. Then he heard a woman's voice.

"***n, could you please look out for him?"- What was that voice talking about? Take care of whom? And why that first word was so distorted?

The Prince turned around at the cries of a baby. -"It came from that cradle"- he approached the cradle slowly and making as little sound possible, he didn't want to scare the baby. Once he was near enough he peeped inside.

It was a baby boy, he was bald but it showed that his hair was brown. When the baby kept on crying, the Prince did the only thing he could think of. He took him out of the cradle and tried to lull him back to sleep. He didn't know why but he felt happy doing this. -"Don't worry! I'm here for you! I will always protect you little brother! I will be always be here for you, P**!-

Before the Prince could put back the baby inside the cradle, the entire world started shifting, He was confused but he didn't let go of the bundle in his arms, He wrapped his arms around him trying to protect him from whatever was happening.

When the world stopped moving, the scenery was completely different. He was no longer inside the rustic house with the cradle, he was in the middle of a city in ruins, everything looked dead or decayed.

"I'm scared!"- Came a voice from his arms. He looked down and noticed he wasn't hugging a baby boy no more. It was a black haired girl with grey skin and pointy ears.

"Don't worry M****, I'm here to protect you!" He felt himself said to the girl. The girl just buried her head in his chest and said

"Thank you for being here for me, S****!"- Then he woke up.


	5. Wedding Invitations

"Pen, wake up!" – His mother voice was the first thing the human boy Pen usually heard in the mornings. He didn't mind because after she wakes him up, mom would say –"Breakfast's ready!"- After that he would be at the table in less than a second. Once there, Pen saw his mother with her favorite apron serving breakfast. The aroma was mouthwatering.

"Are those pancakes?" – Pen already knew the answer, the smell was a big clue but he asked just to confirm he wasn't day dreaming.

"Yes, and with a side of bacon, your favorite!"- Mrs. Mertens knew how hard Pen worked, not only in the farm but saving Ooo on daily basis; so she decided to reward him with his favorite breakfast.

"Mom, where's Dad?" Pen asked after he noticed the lack of his father's presence with a copy of the Candy Kingdom Newspaper.

"Oh! He got up early and went to the woods to chop down some trees for wood."- After she served Pen's plate in front of him she settled two more in the table. –"Here's yours Marshall"- told to the grey teen who hadn't been in the room a second ago.

"Thanks Mrs. M" – replied the teen as he sat down on the opposite side of Pen. Pen poured some syrup (directly from the Breakfast Kingdom!) on his breakfast, unfazed by the sudden appearance of Marshall Lee.

A lot had happened since the fight between Pen and Marshall two months ago, dubbed the "Evicted" Incident. Marshall, after running out of his own supplies, decided to scavenge through the Mertens' garbage for food, after 4 nights of this. Marshall was found out and struck a deal with the Mertens. He would work on the farm and he would get 3 meals a day.

It was a rocky beginning since Marshall was a very laid-back guy, and liked to do things in his own way. After a few days of trails and errors, and a few broken tools, the 500 year-old teen started to get the hang of it.

Marshall turned up to be a great worker, well… he was lazy but with enough motivation he could finish in time. The Mertens were glad for having and extra set of hands (or several if you count his morphing abilities) especially when Pen had to run out to save someone.

Ever since then the Mertens got to know more about Marshall. At first they didn't really trust him to keep his word (being a demon and all that), but they could see that even with his lazy attitude and some stubbornness, he really tried his best at everything.

"Mmm… These Pancakes are delicious, Mrs. M" – Marshall was eating as if it was his last meal, Mrs. Mertens wondered just where did all that hunger came from. Marshall ate like he had 3 stomachs, which wouldn't surprise her since she had saw him grow two sets of extra arms before.

At first Marshall's demonic powers and abilities were a very strange sight (even by Ooo standarts) especially his transformations, but they weren't unwelcome. Marshall could carry very heavy things, use giant claws to dig holes, or jump on and off the barn's roof with little difficulty. He really was of great help.

"Slow down you two, or you're going to end up with stomachache!" – warned Mrs. Mertens, she didn't want the two boys to end up sick.

"Ok, Mom/Mrs. M" replied both boys at the same time while eating at a slower pace.

"Mind your manners, Pen!" she believed that Pen's manners were a reflection on her work and teachings as a parent. "That goes for you too, Marshall". Mrs. Mertens looked after Marshall's well being too. It was a Motherly instinct that she couldn't control. -"Do you boys want more?" – Both boys nodded their heads. Pen already finished his plate and Marshall his own two. "Ok, here's more!"- She served the rest of the pancakes she made.

"But Mom, there isn't any left for you!"-

"Don't worry Pen, I can eat something else"- Pen just looked at the pancakes in his plate and then look up to Marshall who met his eyes at the same time. They nodded to each other both knowing exactly what the other thought.

"Take mine Mom"- Pen pushed his plate to his mom.

"No, take mine Mrs, M. I already ate a lot"- interjected Marshall, pushing his own plate to Mrs. Mertens.

"Thank you, Pen, Marshall"- Mrs. Mertens was very touched by the gesture of both boys. "How about we all share?" – She divided the pancakes so everyone had the same amount.

"Thanks Mom/Mrs. M" – said Pen and Marshall at the same time while sharing smiles. Mrs. Mertens smiled too; she enjoyed this moments with her family which included Marshall Lee. He had slowly become a part of their family.

Speaking of new members…

"Mother! Mother!" sounded a newly familiar voice. "I finally did it, Mother!" the owner of the voice came rolling inside the kitchen. "Good morning NEPTR! Why are you so excited about?" asked Mrs. Mertens when the little robot came into view.

NEPTR, was a recent member of their family. It has been a month and a half since Pen brought the little robot to the house, claiming he had given him life! Mrs. Mertens didn't dwell in the fact that Pen played with the forces of life and death, but she cautioned him on his future responsibilities now that NEPTR was his.

"Look Mother! I did it!" NEPTR referred to Mrs. Mertens as Mother since Pen decided to be his big brother and because being called "Big Brother's Creator" wasn't very convenient for anybody. "I made cupcakes!" – NEPTR said happily. He had being trying so hard these past few weeks on making pastries and baked goods other than pies.

"I'm so proud of you!" NEPTR's efforts are finally successful. He has been trying to help her make desserts and having pies everyday was not healthy. Although she sometimes wondered where did the pies come from. He didn't need ingredients to make them. Marshall said it was a combination of magic and technology. She would have found that answer ridiculous if she hadn't lived in Ooo for the past 12 soon to being 13 years.

"Now you just have to keep practicing! Like when we practice not throwing the pies you made!" – Though it was against his programming, finally NEPTR could make Pies and not throw them at people. It was a very messy week.

"Hey NEPTR! Throw some of those cupcakes right here!" – Marshall pointed at his open mouth. "Yes, me too!" – Pen imitated Marshall.

"Boys! That did I say about manners!" Then everyone shared a laugh. Yes, they were a great family.

After breakfast and some cupcakes for dessert, Mrs. Mertens began washing the dishes while Pen told Marshall about his latest adventure. "Let me get this straight. The only way to save the house people was to make Donnie become a jerk again so he could release a substance that is toxic for Why-wolves." – Pen just nodded –"Dude, that's crazy!" – He should've know better that in Ooo bizarre things always happened.

"Yeah, but that's what happened!"

Mrs. Mertens smiled seeing Marshall and Pen interacting. She was grateful that Marshall spent time with Pen. Her son really needed more male friends. She sometimes worried about what would become of her son if he spent the majority of his time growing up surrounded by girls, mostly princesses. She was happy that Marshall was there for Pen acting like the Big Brother he never got to met. She could almost see the reflection of Finn sitting where Marshall was.

Then there was a knock at the front door. –"Don't worry boys, I'll answer the door." – Mrs. Mertens left the kitchen to see who it was, but her mind wandered to her previous thoughts. Marshall was a good boy and he was becoming part of the family, the big brother that Pen never experienced but that didn't mean they were replacing her eldest son with Marshall. The place Finn occupied on her heart will always be there but there was always space for Marshall and NEPTR.

When Mrs. Mertens was finally at the door she shook her head, trying to get rid of those thought. Now it wasn't the time to think about that. She had a visitor to deal with. "Good Morning! How can I heee…." She almost fainted at the spot. Her voice failed her, and she couldn't finish that sentence. Because at the door was non-other than the person that occupied her thoughts a few seconds ago. A person she thought would never see again.

"Good Morning Ma'am! My name is the Ice Prince. Is your son home?" – At her door was the most feared and hated individual in all of the land, the ruler of the Ice Kingdom, her eldest son, Finn.

* * *

 

Mrs. Mertens was frozen in shock! Her son! Her eldest son! Finn was at the door. A thousand emotions and thoughts filled her whole self. She wanted to hug him and cry her heart out thanking the heavens that her son was back, but she controlled herself. The man in front of her was a different person than her sweet child from all those years ago.

"Excuse me, Ma'am if I came at a bad time." – The prince noticed the mix of emotions displayed in the eyes of the woman in front of him. He was confused. Why did she react in such manner? It's not like they had met before, isn't it?

"Mom who's at the door?" – Pen asked entering the room. His eyes widened when he saw who was at the door. -"ICE PRINCE!?" – yelled in a mix of surprise an anger. What was the prince doing here? Did he plan to attack him at his own home?

"Ah! Pen, I was looking fo.." - He was interrupted by a kick to the face from Pen – "Mom get out of here while I deal with the Ice Prince!" – Pen would never forgive himself if the prince hurt his mother because of him.

"Wait Pen!"she pleaded but it fell in deaf ears. Pen went to attack the fallen Ice Prince.

"Hyiiaa!"- Pen tried to kick the Prince again but he expertly rolled out of the way into a standing position.

"You cannot defeat ME, brat!" - He was angry; nobody sucker punches the ruler of the Ice Kingdom without consequences. Those consequences were Ice Beams thrown at Pen who nimbly dodged to the side.

"I will with this!" Pen jumped into the air and raised his arms to bring them down as a hammer motion. "Taste my fists!" Ice Prince stood his ground preparing to counterattack; he could see that attack coming from a mile away. "Psych!" Pen changed his position in mid air and attacked with a dive kick instead.

Ice Prince was surprised by this but he still retailed with a flying uppercut. Both combatants hit each other and fell on the ground but the Prince recovered first and got back up. -"Now I can KILL YOU!"- said the prince with a crazy face. He was preparing a magic blast of ice to turn Pen in an icicle for the rest of his life.

 **Yes! Finally I can kill this pest!** \- No! -"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" - He said to himself trying to tap his forehead but hit his crown instead. - "I'm so forgetful!"-  said in a cheery tone, forgetting that he was about to kill a child a second ago. -"I didn't come here to fight!"- that announcement was met with relief from Mrs. Mertens who was still at the door shocked by these sudden turn of events.

"What's going on out here?" – asked Marshall who came to investigate all the ruckus alongside NEPTR.

"Ah, NEPTR! You're the one I was looking for!" – He was really excited to see the little robot.

"Bigger Brother!" NEPTR was surprised like everyone else by the presence of the Prince.

"You're not taking NEPTR away!" – yelled Pen. He would never let the Prince take away a member of his family.

"I'm not here about that, you silly Billy!" – The prince kept his cheery tone despite the accusations. - "I came here to tell you the good news!"- …Uh? Good news? What the stuff was Ice Prince talking about? - "I'm getting married!" – He announced at the top of his lungs.

"What?!" - was the response of everyone else. The Ice Prince's getting married?

Pen was the first to recover from the shocking news -"Dude! Seriously?"- Disbelief was clear in his voice but the prince ignored it completely –

"Yes! And she wants to marry me!"- The only response was more gasps of surprise. Everyone had a different response to that.

"Like there's no girl in Ooo with such bad tastes!" – was Pen said.

"Dude, seriously? No way!" - was Marshall's

"Bigger Brother is getting married! I cannot process!" – said NEPTR while a few sparks flew out of him.

Mrs. Mertens just kept quiet but inside of her were lots of thoughts. His baby Finn marrying? How? When? Was she a good girl? How did they meet? Was his little boy coming back to his former self? Will she get grandkids?

"My beautiful betrothed is right over there!" – The whole family looked at the direction he was pointing and saw an incredible view. It was a spectacular carriage made completely out of ice; it reflected the sunlight in such manner it sparkled. Its design was like those of royalty and the carving was superb.

The carriage was been pulled by white snow horses, and on the driver seat was both Gunter and Jake. The door of the carriage opened and the future wife and queen of the Ice Kingdom stepped out. The family didn't know what to expect of the bride but her appearance blew everybody's mind.

II was a girl alright and a cute one. She was dressed in a beautiful white strapless dress and around her waist was a big purple bow which combined perfectly with her light blue skin and short pink hair. But her most prominent characteristic was gold ring on top of her head which had a blue gem as her crown. It was Engagement Ring Princess. **(1)**

"Hello Cool guy!" ERP (or Rini as Ice Prince liked to called her) waved to her future husband, she then blew a kiss at Ice Prince's direction which the Prince "caught" with his left hand put it in his lips. The princess just giggled and stepped back inside the carriage. The prince just smiled while the rest let their jaw hung opened in surprise.

"I'm a lucky guy! I didn't even have to kidnap her!" – He prince turned to face the Mertens who had barely regained their composure. - "She fell in love with me the moment I slipped on the engagement ring in her delicate hand" – He took out a photo and showed them the ring in the picture. It was beautiful with and unique design that looked like ice but the most eye catching thing was the enormous diamond adorning the ring, it was almost as big as a walnut.

"That is… very nice" - said Mrs. Mertens worried for her eldest son. That seemed like a very superficial way to fall in love, not the kind of girl a mother would approve of. Also she was feeling a little self conscious of her own naked hand. She once had a ring but it was taken as payment by the Destiny Gang. She cried for days. It wasn't very expensive or big, but it was hers, a precious memory of her wedding. One of the happiest moments in her life.

"So, I came here to tell the good news and to invite my little brother to the wedding" - The prince explained finally the reason of his visit. -"Also to inform this little brat over here so he wouldn't crash the wedding and ruin my special day!"- Pen blushed at that. It was something he would do if he thought the bride was marrying against her will. Speaking of 'against wills'.

"Ice Prince, if you are getting married, what about capturing princesses?"- The prince just shrugged his shoulders and pointed to himself with both thumps

"Oh well, no more capturing princess for this Prince." Now that was really good news, if Ice Prince stopped capturing princesses then Pen could erase his name from his bad guys list. "What do you say, NEPTR? Will you come to my wedding?"- The little robot wasn't sure about this

"I don't know Bigger Brother"- NEPTR then turned to Mrs. Mertens "Can I go to the wedding, Mother?" – Now everybody's eyes were on her. "Umm" She was flustered for being on the spotlight of such big decision.

"I think… you can go…Only if the whole family can go too."- That was her final decision. It was the wedding of her eldest son Finn and she couldn't miss it. Needless to say Pen was surprised

"What? You want to go?"- Why would his mother wanted to go to the Ice Prince wedding?

The Prince pondered for a minute."Mmm… Why not?" he answered. It would be nice to have more guests that weren't penguins. Also a small part of him, deep inside his subconscious, wanted the blond woman to assist. He didn't know why but she felt familiar, like they have met before, but trying to remember from where or when caused him a headache like hitting his head against a invisible wall.

"The ceremony will start after sundown, when the first stars of the night start appearing!" - announced the Prince in a very poetic way. But he had to ruin it when he kept talking. - "So around 6:30 to 7 pm in this time of the year." – MRs. Mertens nodded in confirmation. She had so many things to prepare. She needed a dress for the occasion, also get formal clothes for her husband, son and Marshall Lee. She didn't know how to dress NEPTR but she would figure something out later. She also needed to get a gift, transportation, accessories, maybe a new hairstyle….

While Mrs. Mertens was lost in all the things she needed before tomorrow's wedding, Marshall decided to ask the Ice Prince a very important question. - "Dude, now that you're getting married, what are your plans for today?" - The ice prince just looked at him confused.

"Plans? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about a bachelor party! A party to say good bye to your last day of liberty, you know!" – Even if it was the Ice Prince, no man should marry before a bachelor party, that was the rule or something.

"Hey that's a good idea! Thanks…umm….who are you again?" – he asked honestly curious. Marshall just face palmed in irritation.

"I'm Marshall Lee. Marshall Lee Abadeer."- said trying to make him remember "You know…The Demon Prince. From the Nightosphere." The Prince just shook his head. He didn't remember him at all. "Dude! We met less than a month ago when you tried to steal away Lamprey Princess **(2)** in a clay bucket." Marshall was getting desperate, how could he have forgotten already.

"Sorry, doesn't ring any bells." - replied in a surprisingly honest manner while Marshall just groaned in annoyance. - "But it's nice to meet a fellow prince like myself!"- The prince extended his hand and Marshall just give him a handshake still annoyed.

"You said the same thing last time!" The blue man just ignored the outburst.

"And I'll feel honored if you assist to the wedding! It is not a royal wedding without at least a member of royalty as guest!" The demonic prince just shook his head and went back to the previous topic.

"Whatever, are you gonna have a bachelor party or not?"

"Now that I think about it… yes, it could be fun!" – Marshall just pumped his fist in silent victory. Finally it was time for some crazy partying! But his short victory was shattered by intervention

"I think it's a great idea. You should take Pen with you!" after that she was received by two very confused "WHAT!" What was she thinking was the shared thought of Marshall and Pen.

Mrs. Mertens just smiled. She knew she couldn't prohibit both Finn and Marshall from having a bachelor party and she knew what kind of things men did at those types of parties and what could happen. Her poor Finn could get tempted by women with bad reputation. Finn didn't have experiences with those kind of women, they could seduced him and in a confused stated call off the wedding and she could never have her boy being with a proper lady and a good woman. But if she sent Pen along, Marshall would never party with those women while Pen was there.

"But Mom! I don't want to go!" – Pen complained almost in a whine. He didn't like the idea of spending time with his enemy more than needed.

"Now, now! Fi…Ice Prince is getting married and he promised to stop kidnapping princess. That means that he will no longer be your enemy!"- Pen just nodded in confusion, why that had to do with partying with the ice prince was his doubt. - "So now that you are no longer enemies this is the perfect opportunity for both of you get to know each other better and form a mutual understanding and maybe even friendship" -

This was also the opportunity for both of them to spend some quality time together as brothers; and maybe someday everyone could become a family once more.

"Yes but..." –

"No but's mister! This is the opportunity to show that even enemies could become friends. Like you and Marshall!" – Now Pen couldn't possibly change his mother's decision, once she had something in mind, nothing could ever change it.

"Yes mom." He was defeated once again by the only person he could never beat, his mother.

"But Mrs. M if Pen comes along, we can't…." – Marshall tried to reason with her but he was interrupted.

"You can't what? "Her tone made it clear she knew what Marshall was talking about and daring him to say it out loud.

"No nothing Mrs. M" He knew he couldn't argue against her. She has the power of taking away his delicious meals. He couldn't return to eating raw meat from creatures he happened to kill.

"So it's settled then!" Mrs. Mertens said in a cheerful tone, ignoring the defeated looks of Pen and Marshall.

"Mother, Can I go to the party too." Asked Nepter while tugging her apron.

"Of course, NEPTR, in fact Bartram should go too."-

Marshall was appalled, Pen he could deal with and Bartram was a cool guy, but the two of them plus NEPTR were totally girl repellant, and he couldn't take them to the best places for a bachelor party.

"That's sounds good to me!"-  added Ice Prince who didn't mind having those three along. - "I have to go back to my castle for a bit so meet me there in an hour!" – The prince walked to the ice carriage where the bride was. "See you guys later!" after he was inside Gunter took the reins and rode away to the Ice Kingdom.

The Mertens family just stood there watching the carriage until it disappeared in the horizon. They stood in silence until Mr. Mertens came back with Bartram by his side. "Hello, everyone. What happened? Why are you all doing outside?" He asked curiously. His wife was the only one who answered.

"Dear, you have no idea!"

* * *

 

Everyone; Pen, Marshall, Bartram and NEPTR; were walking towards the castle of the Ice King like they agreed. Pen and Marshall were walking while NEPTR rode on Bartram. Everyone was chatting about nonsense except for Marshall, who was thinking about what happened at the farm after Ice Prince left.

After explaining the whole situation to her husband, Mrs. Mertens had a private talk with him after everyone else prepared for the party and tomorrow's wedding. -"Marshall, I want you to take care of everyone. That means not getting into too much trouble." - She couldn't ask them to not get in ANY trouble, since she knew her son and friends very well. Trouble always came to them everywhere they go, add the infamous ruler of the Ice Kingdom and a 500-year old teenage demon and you have the perfect recipe for utter chaos.

"I know, I know. Don't worry about us Mrs. M" - said Marshall with a little hint of annoyance. He wasn't a kid, heck he was ten times older than her. Mrs. Mertens took his right hand into both her hands and looked him directly in the eyes.

"Marshall. Promise me please!"- The way she said it and the look on her eyes made him stop for a second. She really wanted reassurance that her family would be ok, and that she put her whole trust on him. It almost reminded him of …

"I promise" – answered in a very serious tone.

"That includes the Ice Prince. You must make sure that the wedding goes without trouble." - That request intrigued the teen. Why would Mrs. Mertens wanted the wedding to succeed. There was something going on that he didn't know but he decided to ignore it for now.

Marshall raised his right arm and looked at Mrs. Mertens in the eyes. "I swear on my word as a demon that I will protect everyone, we will be on time and that tomorrow's wedding will be successful" – His tone was sincere and serious. And she took his word for it.

"Thank you." Mrs. Mertens was now more relaxed; she could trust Marshall to keep his word. "Also make sure everyone dresses formal. It is a wedding after all!" Now her tone was more playful and cheerful.

"Yes, I promise that too." Unknowingly to Mrs. Mertens, strange marking appeared on the back of Marshall's right hand.

Marshall looked at the diamond shaped mark on his back hand. How foolish he was for making a promise of such magnitude. He didn't want to think about what would happen to him if he screwed up.

Marshall shook his head to get rid of such thoughts. There was nothing to worry about. He was Marshall Lee Abadeer, Demon Prince. He could keep his promise, and everything would be fine after tomorrow's wedding.

"Finally! We're here!" - exclaimed Pen, bringing Marshall back from his thoughts. They stood in the main entrance, admiring the giant doors to access the castle (They could try the window that went into the living room, but they decided it was rude). They stood there for a minute until the massive door opened and were received by Gunter and Jake.

"Woof, woof!/Wenk wenk!" both pets/servants ´said´ at the same time, then they turn around and walked away.

"Uh..I think they want us to follow them" – guessed Pen.

After following them from the entrance through a long corridor, they entered the grand hall where the ceremony would take place. They saw a lot of Penguins and snow/ice creatures decorating everywhere, setting seats for the guests, arranging flowers, and a plethora of other things. What got their attention most was a snow structure with stairs in the middle of the Hall that would be the stage for the couple and their bridesmaids and groomsmen.

"Ha! You're finally here!" - greeted happily the soon to be husband. -"How do you like it, huh. Impressive, isn't it?"- They Mertens "party" just nodded on agreement. It looked really good.

"Bigger Brother! Where is the bride?"- asked a curious NEPTR. He wanted to meet his future bigger sister in law.

"My dear Rini, went out! After hearing about you guys wanting to party, she wanted her own bachelorette party. So she and the lady penguins went out to celebrate too."

NEPTR just looked down disappointed. - "Oh, okay."

"Now that the preparations are almost complete, we can go party right now!"- He was getting exited. He had never had the opportunity to party with people who wanted to be with him.

"Wait, wait, wait!"- interrupted Marshall. - "You can possibly expect to go out dressed like that"- the grey teen pointed to the Ice Prince clothes.

"What about them? I don't see anything wrong with them"

"Dude, take a good look at yourself" – The prince did what Marshall said. He had his holey royal blue cape with his dirty light blue shirt, tattered blue pants, and bare feet. He was in his royal garb. The prince just looked at Marshall with a confused look. -"Man, tell me you don't plan to wear that for the wedding."

"Of course not! Gunter picked something special for the occasion"- Marshall sighed. That was good news. He took a quick glace to the mark on his hand; he made a promise to do whatever it takes for a successful wedding, and he couldn't let the groom ruin it by wearing such clothes.

"You better change clothes if you want us to hang out with you!"-  He was serious about it, if the ladies looked at him hanging with the prince and his crude clothes, he might not be able to score.

"I think I have some other clothes in the closet in my bedroom!" - The prince thought out loud, he really wanted to party and if a change of clothes was what was needed, so be it.

"Great! Lead the way. Pen! You come too!" 

"What?"

"As for you, Bartram and NEPTR, you don't wear clothes. So wait around for us here!" – Taking charge of the situation and acting like a leader was a very odd experience to him, and a very odd sight for the others to behold. But they just followed his instructions.

"Gunter, keep our guests entertained while I go change. Bring them refreshments and everything they'd like!" - ordered the Prince to his loyal commander. Gunter saluted and called other penguins to carry out the orders. "Wenk, wenk, wenk!"

"Ok now follow me to my room!" – As they walked Pen just looked at Marshall. What was up with him. Meanwhile Marshall was trying to relax and not stare at the mark on his hand.

After walking for a minute or two, the trio entered the prince's room and stop in front of a wooden door.

"Here it is my closet! But I'm still wondering why I have to change clothes" – Marshall sighed annoyed. He wasn't going to stop asking, was he?

"First of all, those clothes are ragged, tattered, full of holes, etc. And second, if you go out like that, people might recognize you, and you don't have the best reputation out there. So if you want us to hang out for your party, you should put on different clothes."

"So, like a disguise? Yes, I think I can do that"- The prince opened the closet and turn on the lights, revealing a large room filled with all kinds of clothes; large, short, classy, trashy, gaudy, formal, etc. He had everything. Both Pen and Marshall were amazed by all of these. How the heck did the Prince get all of these? And why he never wore any of it? "If you'll excuse me!" He entered and closed the door behind him, leaving Pen and Marshall alone.

Pen took this chance and turn to Marshall. - "Just what is going on with you today? You're acting all weird!" - Marshall just sighed again. He suspected he was going to do that a whole lot more until the wedding was over.

"I'm sorry, Pen."- It was obvious to anyone that he was acting weird. -"It's just that.. I made a promise to your mother." Pen raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of promise?"- the grey teen just took a deep breath. It was kind of a long explanation.

"I promised that I have to take care of everyone and make sure tomorrow's weeding happens. Ice Prince included. But the problem is that I swore on my demon word, and this appeared on my hand!" He showed to Pen the diamond shaped mark on the back of his right hand. "And if I were to fail to keep my word, something really bad will happen!"

Pen was unfazed by the explanation. -"So it's like a Royal Promise, right?"

"A what?"

"A Royal Promise. I once made one to not tell anyone about a certain incident in the Candy Kingdom, and after I broke it by accident, I was supposed to die but I had the opportunity to save myself if I answered correctly a math question." - Said Pen, remembering fondly that day. Zombies, slumber parties, and the reversal of death itself, a good Tuesday overall.

"Ooookay…..yes something like that, only worse!" - He should know by now that Ooo was full of bizarre things, he shouldn't be surprised anymore. Pen smiled at him and gave him a thumps up and the best good guy look he could.

"Don't worry Marshall! I'll help you out! We just need to take care of ourselves and the Ice Prince and make sure the wedding goes on without trouble!"

Marshall smile too. He felt relieved to have Pen on his side. -"Yeah, dude. With you by my side I can relax and party without worries! High five! Up top!" - after their little moment, the closet open once again revealing the newly dressed Ice Prince.

"How about this? Do I look good?" asked the Prince. The two friends widen their eyes at the sight. Gone was the crude and dirty clothed prince. In front of them was a blue man dressed in dark blue dress shirt with the neck unbuttoned, black pants with a classy belt with golden buckle, and finally some black dress shoes. On top of his head was still his golden crown, but his hair wasn't unruly anymore, he combed his long white hair into a stylish ponytail.

"Nice!" - complimented Marshall while Pen still held his unbelieving face.-"But about that crown.." Marshall made the mistake of trying to touch it, because Ice Prince flipped in less than a second.

" **NOBODY TOUCHES THE CROWN!** " – He had a look of uncontrolled rage as he back stepped with both hands holding the crown on his head. He looked like he was about to attack any second. Pen acting instantly by pure instinct, went for his sword strapped on his backpack. He too was ready to battle the moment Ice Prince attacked.

"WOW! WOW! Chillax, dude!" – Marshall stepped between the two of them trying to avoid a disastrous situation. -"I.P. I'm sorry for trying to touch your crown. I didn't mean to make you angry or anything. We are here for you, remember?"- He held his hands in front of him as a sign of peace.

The angered prince stood still for a couple of minutes breathing heavily trying to calm himself. For Marshall was the two longest minutes of his life. If the situation went out of control, he was certainly screwed.

"F..fine…. I'm… sorry too. I just don't like other people touching it"- The blue man relaxed his stance and so did Pen. Marshall just sighed. Crisis adverted. For now.

"What I was trying to say was that…if you could….not wear the crown on your head! People might recognize you despite the new look." - The Prince just gave him with a very serious look.

"I will not leave my crown behind! It shall remain with me at all times!"- He didn't look like he could be convinced otherwise.

"How about wearing the crown someplace else!" - Intervened Pen. - "If I were you I could… I don't know… put it in my shorts and Bam! Crown shorts!"

Ice Prince just widen his eyes at those words and then clenched his left fist, he had heard those words before! But where? He tried to remember where he had heard that and why they made him feel anger. But his inquiry was met by the same pain he felt when he tried to remember certain things, like his dreams. Or why that blond woman that was Pen's mother felt familiar.

The room stood silent for a minute, with the prince trying to calm himself and relieve the headache while Pen wondered with he had say something wrong. "Thanks for the idea, but I don't think I'll like to have crown pants." Said a more calmed Prince. Then an idea came to mind. - "I got an idea! Just wait for me, ok? While I go to retrieve something." After leaving his guest alone again, Pen turned to Marshall.

"That was weird"

"Just thank Glob that nothing bad happens!

"Now that the Ice Prince is well dressed, It's now your turn Pen!" - Marshall turned to his short friend. -"Now get inside the closet and change"- Pen just crossed his arms and looked at Marshall defiantly.

"Why should I?"

Marshall walked to the young boy and rested his hand on Pen's shoulder. -"Because, despite being good clothes for adventuring, yours aren't exactly good for partying… more specifically the time of party I planned. Besides, a little change won't kill you." – Pen took a glance at himself and nodded

"Ok, but my hat stays on!" Marshall chuckled and playfully patted Pen on his head.

"Sure thing, kiddo!"

Marshall waited patiently for Pen, when the Ice Prince came back.

His crown now not on his head but tied to his belt with a chain on the side. "How about this? Does it look better than crown pants?"

Marshall nodded and replied - "Well, that's better than on your head. We can say that you wear it as a fashion statement".

"Ok Marshall, How do I look?"- said Pen after opening the door once more revealing his new clothes. Instead of his light brownish T-shirt and brown shorts, he was wearing a black t-shirt that seemed a size larger but still looked good on him; he also wore khaki cargo pants and kept his brown boots and yellow hat.

"You look great! Dare I say cool" - replied Marshall.

"What about you Marshall? Are you going to change too?- asked Pen.

"Nah! I looked great already."-  Marshall gave a look to his clothes; a wine colored medium sleeved shirt and jeans. - "But maybe I'll take a jacket if you don't mind I.P."- The prince just nodded and said

"Of course, I don't wear these clothes unless I'm pretending to be someone else.

Marshall just gave him a strange look; he didn't want to know what the Prince did on his spare time when nobody watched him. After taking a black leather jacket, Marshall turned to the Prince. - "Now that you mention it. What do we call you? We can't keep calling you Ice Prince or the disguise won't work."The Prince brought his right mechanical arm to his face, pondering. - "Also, that pincer hand is a dead giveaway, you should change it too."

"Right, right! Let's go my cupboard in my living room then!"- The trek from the Prince's room to the living room was a very fast one. It didn't take more than a minute or two. The Prince opened the cupboard and started sorting all his arms.

"Let's see… tapping arm… no… sword arm… no… fishing pole arm…..no..no,no….Aha! My new five fingers arm!" **(3)** – He took it out and changed it with his current pincer arm. The Pincer arm was his favorite, it felt the most nostalgic and familiar, also it was perfect as an intimidation tool and to strangle victims (not that he ever did that to anyone).

"How about now?" - asked the Prince.

"Better than the pincer but maybe we could conceal it with a glove of something." Marshall said. 

"Here I have one right here!" said Pen, giving the Prince a black glove he drew from his backpack.

"Fine, now that that's settled, what about a new name?"

The Ice Prince just shrugged his shoulders. "What about just Prince? Prince is a name" – Marshall shook his head negatively.

"No, too lame and easy to figure out your identity." –

"How about this!" He cleared his throat and said in a less raspy voice. - "Hello! My name is Davey. Davey Johnson. Nice to meet you!" Both Pen and Marshall were amazed by this. He really looked like a different person.

"Ok, Davey! Ready to PAR-TEY?" asked excited Pen, almost forgetting he was talking to the Ice Prince.

"Yes! Let's go!" said Davey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) I was tempted to use Old Lady Princess for comedy purposes but I decided for ERP since she seems like the type to fall in love with the first guy who gave her a big diamond ring.
> 
> (2) Lamprey Princess isn't an OC she is from the Adventure Time comics, which you should totally buy and read, they're awesome.
> 
> (3) This arm is just a normal metal arm designed to look as closely as a normal arm. It doesn't have weapons or hidden compartments.


	6. The Bachelor Party

"So… now what do we do?" - asked Marshall to the rest of the "gang" since it was too early for the kind of party he wanted.

"You know there is a place I always wanted to go" - answered Ice… I mean Davey.

**First Stop:**

The first thing that assaulted everyone's senses after arriving was the noise; these place was filled with dozens of machines, every single one working at the same time; then it was the smell of the place, smelled like sweat; and finally was the look of the place. There were no windows and no natural light, the only source of illumination was the lights emitted from the machines themselves.

It was an arcade.

"Wow! Awesome!" - exclaimed Pen. He had never entered a place like this before, so he was amazed by all the lights and colors. Everywhere he looked there was something new and cool. H e couldn't wait to play with some of these things!

"Wow! Indeed"- said Marshall. He too didn't know of this place. It surprised him that his kind of things still existed after everything that happened with the world even before the creation of Ooo. He just shrugged his shoulders. That was the power of videogames he supposed.

"Ok everyone, here's twenty tokens for each of you!" - Davey gave everyone a small bag with coins. - "Since each game takes one or two tokens to play, surly we will spend some time in here. So enjoy yourselves!"

"Yay!" yelled the rest, except Marshall, he had to keep his cool even when there weren't any females in the premises. Everyone went their own way trying to find something fun to spend their tokens on.

"Excuse me sir, but what is this game about?"- asked NEPTR to a Gummy person.

"Huh? You never played this before?"- questioned to the little robot who shook his body as a negative.- "Well it's easy you just put you token and various balls come out. The objective is to throw the ball into that basket up there in the board, the more balls you score, you get more points and with them you get tickets you can exchange for prizes. Understood?

"Yes sir! Thank you!" This game looked perfect for him. Throwing things was his specialty.

"Wow would you look at that!" - pointed Davey with a big smile on his face. - "It's Super Alley Brawlers II Turbo! I got to play that game!" - He quickly ran to the machine and inserted his token. The Machine instantly went into the character select screen. "Select your character!" announced a male voice. - "Mmm.. who do I chose? There are so many characters" The select cursor highlighted all the colorful characters from the game. "I better go with Kim! He has the fire uppercut after all!" After choosing a red clad blond karate master, the game began.

"Hey Bar-Bar! Look at that!" - It was a large machine with speakers and in front of it were mats with arrows. "Step Step Revolution" read the title on the machine. - "Looks like a dance machine. Wanna try it Bar Bar?" the boy asked to his Best friend who nodded silently. It looked like fun. "Bet you I can beat you!" said Pen after inserting the token.

SELECT DIFFICULTY! Read the screen. - "Mmm… Let's see… Slowpoke, Standard, Super, Super Super, Are you insane?, And Please Glob have Mercy!. I don't know Bar Bar… What do you like?"-  Bartram looked at Pen directly in the eye, no words needed to convey the message. - "You read my mind. Maximum level it is."

Marshall just sighed, he was doing a lot of that lately, and watch the others have fun. This wasn't exactly his idea for a bachelor party, but hey, I was still early and he could wait for the night, which promised a crazy party in the best dance club he knew. Marshall walked around for a couple of minutes until a game catch his eye. It was a machine similar to the others, but his one had attached plastic weapons. That meant he could shoot things! After inserting the coin and grabbing the weapon that look like a submachine gun, the machine talked.

"After the gates of hell opened, Demons started tearing the world apart and only you can stop them! But the question is….Are you a bad enough dude? And send those filthy demons back to where they came from? START!"

After this Marshall began shooting every enemy that came into his way.

"You know a small part of me should find this a little offensive…"-  But his thoughts were interrupted by the machine's voice POWER UP! FLAMETHROWER!. - "Never mind!" - added the teen and proceed to fry all those motherfloppers!

After two hours everyone had played all the game they could. Pen and Bartram played all the rhythm games, which Bartram won every time despite his hooves. And a couple of fighting games with Davey.

Davey play a lot of fighting games and simple arcade titles, his favorite was Monkey Kong where he rescued a princess from a Giant Donkey.

Marshall played mostly violent games that involved blood, or shooting something, but he also played some other games like the virtual boxing machine. Where he got to punch people.

As for NEPTR he kept playing games that rewarded him with tickets and by the end he had enough tickets to get everyone a gift.

"Thanks a lot for the gifts NEPTR!"-  said Pen after the Gang left the arcade with their different gifts. Pen had a fake mustache and a fluorescent necklace. Next to him was Bartram with a black wig and seemed to be enjoying his gift too.

"You're welcome brother!" - said NEPTR. He had a cap that read "Pro-Gamer" and a ring that supposedly was a replica from a movie; it had strange markings on the inside that the guy from the arcade said it was Black Speech or something -"Did you like your gift Bigger Brother?"- NEPTR asked the man previously known as Ice Prince.

"Yes I like them a lot, little Brother!"- He was now wearing a pair of round blue tinted shades, they scream cool and intellectual at the same time.

"Yes, Thanks NEPTR" - added Marshall with less enthusiasm than the others. Not that he was ungrateful, no he liked it. It was a comb. Now he liked his hair to be wild but he combed from time to time. The only problem was that it was pink. Bright Pink. And it said Pretty Princess on the side. Clearly not his style.

As they were walking around Marshall asked out loud "Now where we go?"- Everyone stop their small talk for a second, until Pen suggested something.

"Guys I have an Idea!"

**Second Stop:**

Their second stop was another place that Marshall wouldn't think of coming. Sure the Arcade was fun and all but it wasn't exactly the place to meet girls. And this place was exactly like the arcade in that regard, even more so.

The place was full of males, not a single girl in sight. The majority of the occupants wore geeky shirts and tight shorts, some wore sweet pants or as Marshall like to call them "Gave up on Life Pants". All of these people were here for a single reason: Comic Books.

They were in a comic book store.

"What are we doing here exactly?" asked Marshall, who had a pretty good idea why Pen chose this place.

"To see if there is more Billy: The Hero comics, of course!" - Marshall just face palmed. Of course it had to be that. Since meeting Pen, Marshall discovered the young boy obsession with comic books or more precisely with Billy comics. He was his favorite hero of all time. Pen talked about him all the time, about how he had done this or that. Marshall didn't get it; it wasn't like Billy was real.

"Who is Billy?"- asked Davey without knowing the horrors he would unleash for that question. Pen and the other costumers who heard the question gasped in surprise. How was this poor soul who had never heard of the greatest hero ever?

"Who…who is Billy?" - Pen repeated the question mostly to himself to make sure he had heard right. - "I'll tell you who is Billy!" - Marshall knew what was coming, so he quickly covered his ears. Pen just inhaled a lot of air and began singing.

_**Who's the greatest warrior ever?** _

_**A hero of renown?** _

_**Who slayed an Evil Ocean?** _

_**Who cast the Lich King down?** _

Now everybody's gazes were on them, Marshall was slightly embarrassed by the situation, unlike Pen who kept singing loud and prideful.

_**Billy!** _

_**And that time the evil Fire Count** _

_**Captured a damsel fair.** _

_**Who saved her with such brav'ry** _

_**She offered him her hair?** _

_**Billy!** _

Then Pen took the biggest breath ever one more time. It was time for the last part.

_**Also... he fought a bear!** _

_**Biiiiiillyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!** _

Now every costumer was clapping and cheering, they too appreciated the greatness that was Billy. Meanwhile Davey look thrilled by the whole thing, it seemed that Pen's enthusiasm got to him too.

"That sounds cool! Can you tell me more?" - Davey asked to the excited young boy.

"Of course, Davey! In fact let me show you." – Pen took the arm of the blue man and dragged him to the stand were his favorite comics where, forgetting he was dealing with his mortal enemy.

Marshall just stared at them for a few seconds and the sighed. It wasn't his problem now. He turned to the others to see if they wanted to get out of there like him. "Hey guys! Do you…" then he noticed that NEPTR and Bartram weren't there anymore; they were together in other section of the shop looking at different titles.

"So this illustrated book is about a robot that finds love?" NEPTR asked Bartram who just nodded. He too was a fan of comic books, except he was more of a casual one. He preferred stories with great plot, complicated characters and with twists you could never expect. But what he liked more were the romances. Because it reminded him of his possibly-not-so sure-yet girlfriend.

Now Marshall was alone and felt out-of-place. This wasn't exactly his ideal hang out place. He wasn't geeky or a nerd. And he didn't understand the allure that all these guys see on comic books. He decided to walk and take a look around, it was better than standing doing nothing. Marshall walked through the all the stands trying to find something remotely interesting. He then came to a stop when he arrived to a section that looked different than the rest. The books there were thicker and smaller than the rest. Also they looked strange, like they were backwards. The book opened from the left, not from the right.

He looked around looking for a clue about these strange books. After looking at the top shelf, there was a poster that said "Read from left to right", and depicted how to follow the panel sequence. These intrigued the teen; he had never seen these kinds of books before. His curiosity got the best of him and picked up the one with the most attractive cover. It was a guy with messy back hair and a dark outfit with shoulder pads and bandages around his arms. He was standing in front of what it looked liked ruins and a storm over him. The title read Fist of the Big Dipper.

Needless to say, Marshall would later become a regular on the comic shop.

[x]

"And that is why Billy is the best hero there is" - Pen finally ended his speech about Billy after 40 minutes of talking non-stop. During all of this Davey paid attention to everything Pen said, now to he was excited about finding out more about Billy.

"It seems that you like Billy a lot"-  commented a chocolate marshmallow man. - "There's an auction going on inside the backroom, I heard there are some Billy stuff you can get!"- Pen's eyes widen happily in surprise.

"Come on Davey! Let's go!" – He dragged the blue man along with him. Davey smiled a little, He had never seen someone so happy or excited like this before, it was almost contagious.

After sitting down, they watched a lot of people bidding for a lot of different stuff. Replicas of swords, shields, armor from different comic book characters. There were also cardboard cutouts and even figurines and action figures.

"Sold for one hundred to the good sir over there!"- The winner was a regular guy with no really any characteristics that made him stand out. - "Here! Good sir, is your new action figure!"- The auctioneer, an orange man with black hair and green eyes, gave the action figure to its new owner. -"Excuse me, sir. What is your name? I need it for the record of course" – the regular guy just took his new possession and answered "I'm just some random guy!" said with a very distinctive voice. After that, he left the place with everyone else marveled by his voice.

After recovering from that voice, the auctioneer continued his job. -"Now for the final object. We have a very rare comic here! The limited released Amazing Action Comics number 27, the first and only time Billy the Hero, teamed up with Courageous Battlers, the precursors of the Bravest Warriors."

Everyone in the room gasped and began whispering between themselves, this was indeed a rare jewel. Meanwhile Pen was salivating, his life was leading to this moment, the moment to get that book!"

"Let's start with one hundred, who gives two?"

"Two!" – said one of the many people that were eying the comic, like it was their last chance in life to get it.

"I got 2, who gives 3?"

"Three!"

The bid was slowly building up to a ridiculous number for a comic book. Pen was paying rapt attention, he would let the others bid until they couldn't rise more and in the last second up the price.

"We got 2000 golds for this rare comic. 2000 who gives 2100? We got 2000! Nobody gives more? We got 2000 once, 2000 twice …." This was the Perfect chance for Pen.

"Three thousand!" That got the attention of everyone. 3000?! One thousand golds more than the previous bid.

"3000 for the fellow with the yellow hat! We have 3000! Somebody offers more? We got 3000." Pen smirked, that comic was already his.

"I offer four thousand!" yelled a guy who had kept silence the whole time. He was wearing a trilby hat and brown coat over a charcoal t-shirt. The stranger pushed the bridge of his glasses confidently. He too had the same strategy as Pen.

"4000 from the good sir over there! We got 4000…"

"4100 golds!" yelled Pen. He was slightly nervous; he didn't expect someone with that much cash. So he better play smart.

"4200" offered the coat wearing stranger.

"4300" – "4500" – "4600"- "4700"

Pen was really nervous now, a few hundred more and he was out. He decided to go all out! "5500 golds!"- Pen yelled standing up. It was all he had. He hoped that it was enough to beat that guy.

"Seven thousand golds!" - was the last bid from the stranger.

"S..seven thousand?!" - asked dumbfounded the auctioneer, that sum was more than ridiculous, it was ludicrous!

"We got seven thousand! Someone offers more? We got seven thousand…"

Pen sat down, his hold body was trembling; he couldn't believe it. He lost. He lowered his head in defeat, he felt like crying a little and he didn't want anyone to see him like that.

"7000 0nce! 7000 twice…" - As the auctioneer was about to slam his little mallet to put an end to this last bid, a loud voice raised above the rest.

"ONE CHILLION GOLDS!"

Everyone turned around and looked at the blue man standing next to the yellow hatted boy. There were loud whispers everywhere and one guy ended up fainting.

"Order, Order!" - demanded the auctioneer, he wouldn't have his auction become a circus of itself. - "I would like to remind everyone that THAT is not a real number!"

Davey put his right arm behind his head and chuckled nervously. - "Ha,ha, sorry, my bad! What I meant to say was Ten Thousand Golds!"

"We had 10,000! Do you offer more, sir?" - asked the auctioneer to the coat wearing man. The mysterious man just shook his head; he knew when he was defeated.

"Sold to 10,000! To the Good sir with good fashion sense!"- Davey walked to the auctioneer and dropped a bag full of coins.

"My name is Davey Johnson!" - offered his name before they asked him.

"Sure, enjoy your purchase good sir!"

Davey walked back to where Pen sat, he was looking at him with confusion written all over his face. Before Pen could ask him anything, Davey gave him the comic book he had just bought. "Here take it. It's yours!" asked was even more confused.

"Why…?" The boy utter barely above a whisper.

"Because you looked unhappy when you couldn't bid more."-  Answered the blue man while offering the comic once more to him. Davey didn't know why he was doing this. It just felt right.

Pen hands were trembling; he slowly took the book on his hands like it was made of very thin glass. - "I… I… don't know what to say!" - Pen couldn't believe it. He really was holding it. He felt like crying again. - "I..I promise..I'll pay you back!"

"That won't be necessary, it's a gift! Friends are supposed to give each other gifts!"- Davey smiled warmly at Pen. This reminded him of a dream he once had, about someone he had given a gift to, a red something… a toy maybe.

Pen couldn't contain himself anymore and he gave Davey a hug. - "Thank you!"-  Forgetting completely that Davey was once his enemy. No person would do something so nice for his enemies. Now he was a friend.

"Congratulations, Little Guy!" - Pen ended the hug an turned around to look at the speaker, It was the coat wearing guy. -"I hope you liked it." -Said sincerely and without any malice from losing.

"Um…thanks?"

"It's good to see that younger generations enjoys the hobby!" - said the stranger almost to himself, reflecting on his own memories and pushing up the bridge of his glasses. "Well so long, kid! I have some bad comic books to read and review." The stranger then exited and was never seen again. As he was walking off the distance, Pen just asked.

"Just who was that guy with the glasses?"

[x]

"So… how was the comic book store?" asked Pen to the rest of the gang after they left and once again walking without destination.

"It was enjoyable, Brother!"- replied NEPTR who bought various comics with robot protagonists. -"And Bartram bought some great comics too!"- Bartram Nodded, he too bought a lot of romance heavy comics. He wanted ideas for when he meets with his possible-not-sure-yet girlfriend.

"What about you Marshall, found something interesting?"- Asked Davey who didn't buy anything but Pen promised him to lend him all of his Billy comics as some kind of payment.

"Mmm oh just a little book, nothing big" - lied Marshall, who had bought five of the strange black and white comics of the Fist of the Big Dipper. There were filled with fights and exploding dudes! And the story wasn't half bad.

"So now where we go?" - asked Davey. He was having so much fun with his new friends. He couldn't wait to see what they would do next. But before anyone answered, Marshall's stomach talked for him with a big grumble.

"How about going for something to eat?"- suggested Marshall. -"There is a convenience store nearby."

"Yeah sure!"

**Third Stop:**

"Ahh the convenience store! There is no place more convenient!"- said Marshall while looking around for something to eat. He was carrying several bags of chips and some sodas. Now all he needed was some dip. He only needed one more thing to make his day. -"Dude all we need are some Softy Cheese Hotdogs and we are set!"

"Man I love those! I want some too"- said Pen. He too wanted to taste some of those delicious hotdogs. -"You should try some too, Davey! They're delicious"- the boy suggested to his new friend. -"In fact I pay for yours!"- He was really grateful with Davey and he would always try to repay him in some manner.

"Ok, Ok, if you insist!" replied Davey.

When they were about to go to the counter and pay for all their stuff, they heard a commotion going on with the cashier and some donkus.

"I don't care, man! My life is like a fart!" - the guy then proceeded to put his mouth on the Softy Cheese dispenser, and started swallowing it at a fast pace.

"Hey, you can't do that!" - said the cashier who didn't do anything to stop that guy.

When the guy didn't stop, Marshall decided to intervene. -"Dude, stop! That's enough!" – but the guy kept swallowing softy cheese and began inflating like a balloon. -"Dude! Seriously. Stop!" - When Marshall tried to pull him away, it was already late. The guy exploded and bathed the whole place in Softy Cheese, including Marshall.

"You know what I kinda lost the appetite!" - uttered Davey after witnessing such horrendous way to die.

"Yeah me too! Let's get out of here!" - suggested Pen. This was something that will haunt him for some time. -"Come on Marshall" - Pen dragged the cheese bathed teen. He was in a state of shock. And it will be sometime before he ate another Softy Cheesy Dog from the Squeez-E-Mart.

**Fifth Stop:**

What do you do after something like that? Watching a man die in front of you knowing you could've stopped him. How can you move on with your life? Well, if you're a guy like Marshall Lee all it takes is meat, lots and lots of meat. Also sitting on the first row on a wrestling match is good for the healing process. And that's where he and the rest of the gang were after the incident at the Squeek-E-Mart.

It was the final round and only one could become champion. The challenger was the "The Last Warrior" a hairy full of muscles orange man and he had given a great fight, but nobody ever messes with the champion "The Train".

GO! THE TRAIN!

WE LOVE YOU THE TRAIN!

KICK HIS BUTT!

Were many of the things the spectators shout at their champ. After a powerful lariat, the Last Warrior was on the rope defenseless.

"This seems to be the end for the challenger; The Train is preparing his finishing move!" - The announcer voice boomed throughout the arena. - "AND HERE IT COMES, FOLKS!"

The Train spread out his arms and said -"This is why you don't mess with THE TRAIN!"- He swiftly caught his opponent and gave him a painful German Suplex while shouting -"ULTIMATE!" - after that he lifted his opponent in the air and brought him down on his knee for a back breaker -"ATOMIC!"- then The Train flung his opponent in to the air and jumped after him to finish him off his a devastating Spinning Piledriver -"BUSTEEEEEEEERRRRRRR!"

"ITS OVER! THERE'S NO WAY THE LAST WARRIOR CAN STAND AFTER THAT!"- shout excitedly the announcer. -"THE TRAIN WOOOOON!"- The crowd exploded in cheers for the champion. That was an epic finale.

"Wooooow! That was awesome!"- Pen was all fired up after and ending like that. Specially witnessing it on first row. -"The Train is the best!"

"Fav wha kul" - tried to say Marshall who had difficulty talking with his mouth full of meat. Now he had completely erased the whole Explosion by Softy Cheese Incident from his mind.

Davey just nodded in agreement with the others, but something was bothering him. Something about the Train. -"Wow, the Last Warrior would need a new pair of legs if he wants to fight again!"- said one of spectators behind Davey.

"Don't worry! I heard a rumor that wrestlers know a guy who makes Bionic parts for them after an injury!"- replied another.

Bionic Parts huh! Davey looked at his right arm with a questioning look. Maybe he could get some too. But he had to talk with the Train.

"Do you think I can his autograph" - asked Pen excited.

"You know what? I'll get you that autograph!" - said Davey knowing it was the perfect opportunity to talk with the Train. "Just wait for me at the exit!"

[x]

Davey walked directly to the room where the Train was resting, but an obstacle was on his way -"Sorry, but the Champ isn't talking with anybody!"- said the bouncer. It was a rock golem with black shirt and sunglasses.

"I just want his autograph for a little friend of mine!"- Davey tried to persuade the bouncer to no avail.

"No means no! So scram!" –

If asking nicely didn't do the trick, Davey had other means of entering. Davey took his crown and put it in his head for a second while he froze the rock golem in place. -"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU DON'T OBEY!"- said harshly the Prince on his usual persona. But after taking off his crown and put it back on his pants. He returned to the docile Davey. - "Umm… Sorry"

After pushing the block of ice aside, he checked if someone had seen him before making his way in. Inside was the wrestling champion The Train himself, resting in a comfy chair while drinking some wine. -"I told you, I didn't want to be disturbed, Larry!"- yelled the champ when he heard the door opening.

"Um..sorry but Larry is tied up at the moment!"

The train was up in an instant turning around to face the intruder. -"Who the heck are you!" - asked fiercely, he didn't take kindly on intruders.

"Sorry, for disturbing you Mr. Train! My name is Davey Johnson and I came to ask you something"- the blue man replied putting both hands in front of him. -"I just wanted to know where I can meet the guy that makes Bionic parts!"-

After hearing that the Train got mighty annoyed. -"That is just a myth! And even if it were true, which totally isn't, why the heck would I tell you! You dumbhole! Now get the heck out of here or I'll beat the stuff out of you!"

Davey nodded nervously. This wasn't going like he wanted and he couldn't just freeze him and force him to tell him, since he just could lie to him and yell foe security. But when he was about to give up he noticed something on the Train's pectoral. A tattoo. -"I have seen that tattoo before!"

Davey quickly search within his shirt and take out a photograph. A picture of a muscled guy with the same tattoo. But what was important on the Picture were two things, where he was and what he was wearing.

The guy who had a striking resemblance to the Train, except for the long blond hair, a wig perhaps. Also he was wearing extremely tight yellow shorts and a bright pink shirt opened enough to show off the same tattoo on the same spot as the Train.

The second thing was that this guy was surrounded by other muscled guys with tight bright shirts and a sign was above them it read "Butter Lettuce Fantasy" in bright colors.

"Where did you get that picture?" - The Train yelled alarmed after looking at the picture Davey had in his hand.

"Oh! I got it from one of my paparazzi penguins when they were tailing one of the princesses. Look if you look closely you can see her!" - It was true, if you looked closed enough you could see Muscle Princess in the background.

"Man! Give me that picture!"- the Train tried to snatch it off the blue man's hand but Davey was quicker.

"What about a deal? If you tell me where I can find that Bionic Parts Guy I'll give you this picture, what do you say?" - The Train was shaking, Ice Prince didn't know if it because he was angry or scared, maybe both.

"And what exactly is stopping me from pulverizing you and take the picture by force?" - Davey once more put the crown on his head and said with malice

"You could try, but you will found out what happened to your Bouncer outside." - to make his thread more clear he shot a freeze beam to the chair next to The Train and froze it solid. The message was quite clear.

"You… win." - Said defeated the Train. "Just contact my friend Spencer, at his address and tell him I sent you!" He gave him a piece of paper with all the information he needed.

"Now before I give you his picture I want something else." Now the Train's fury was back

"I already gave you the address! What more do you want?"

The Prince just took off his crown once again and look at the train a serious look, but his eyes were different, they weren't filled with malice, just a little regret. - "There is a boy out there who is a fan of yours and wants your autograph and I promised him I will get one for him" - Now Davey lessen the seriousness of his look and gave a softer one.- "Could you please give me your autograph?"

The Train just sighed again in defeat. Just what was the deal with this guy anyways, first he looks like a wimp, then he blackmails him and finally he asks for an autograph for a kid. This Davey guy has some issues. "What's his name?" - asked the champ while taking a pen.

"He's name is Pen. Pen Mertens."

[x]

"Man, what is taking him so long!"- complained Marshall for the tenth time. They have being waiting for Davey for at least 40 minutes. Didn't he know that the next stop was finally the dance club? He had been waiting the whole day for it.

"I'm sorry for taking so long! But the Train was kind of busy when I arrived to his room"- said Davey who arrived just in time to hear Marshall complain.

"Davey! Did you meet the Train?"- asked excitedly Pen.

"Even better! I got his autograph like I promised!" - He took the piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to Pen.

Pen looked at the paper and read out loud "To my dear fan Pen Mertens! Keep being cool! From your buddy The Train" Pen was astounded. He couldn't believe who awesome Davey was! He was like the Best Older Friend ever.

Meanwhile Marshall was surprised by the whole change of character from the Prince. Sure, he had only met him once before, but his reputation was well know throughout Ooo. So watching him act like he was like some kind of Super Best Big Brother was strange, almost concerning, but he let it slide. He heard that marriage changed people so maybe this was the result of it.

"Now that this is over! We can finally hit the club!" - exclaimed Marshall. It was already dark outside so it was the perfect time for some late night partying.

"Ok let's go!" - shout out Pen, clearly wanting to party more. But Marshall was having none of that.

"Sorry Pen! But I don't think you should come along for this one!" - Before Pen could complain, Marshall continued explaining.

"You aren't exactly old enough for the kind of Party I've planned, besides If your mom finds out I let you come, she'll have my head on a plate!" - He was kidding sure, but still he was afraid of what Mrs. Mertens would do to him for "corrupting" Pen's mind. - "So why not you take Bartram and NEPTR home?"

Pen just shook his head. - "Dude, I have adventures around Ooo and defeated countless monsters. I think I'm mature enough! Besides you still need help about you-know-what!" - He whispered that last part. Marshall took a look at the mark on his hand and then at Pen's face. I didn't look like he could convince him otherwise. He sure was stubborn, just like Mrs. M.

"Ok, but if your Mom finds out you're going down with me!" - warned Marshall before looking at Davey. -"What do you say Davey? Are you ready to Party?"

Davey just smiled and said. "Lead the way, Marshall"

**Sixth Stop:**

After walking all the way to the dance club they were finally there at the peak of the party. At first the bouncer didn't let Pen enter since he was a kid after all but after telling him who he was the bouncer change his tune. - "Anything for Pen and Bartram the greatest heroic duo of Ooo"

Now they were all sitting enjoying the music and some snacks. Except Marshall who was busy scanning through the crowd to find some cute girl to talk with.

There were a lot of cutesy bears dancing around but that was expected from the party animals, they were always at the best party places. Near the dance floor were two blue long haired girls, with skin darker than the darkest night; they wore very skimpy clothes and were leaving little to the imagination. Marshall knew they were changelings, creatures that could take on any desirable form and feed from emotions, almost like succubae. Marshall wasn't interested in them, he heard stories of guys having some "action" with changelings when by accident they reverted back to their original forms and let me tell you those guys were never the same.

Marshall kept looking around, there were a couple fairies flying and dancing around, they were cute but way to small for his tastes (they were like 5-6 inches tall). There were also two very cute blondes with pointy ears, they looked like light elves and with good figures too, but it seemed that already had company. Also sitting on the bar near the stage for bands when there were live shows (and today wasn't one of those days) was a girl with leaf hair and pale green skin. She look great but had an aura around her that said "Not interested" so there wasn't anybody with her, except the bartender.

Now there were a lot more girls around but nothing that caught Marshall's eyes. He sighed and turned to his friends who kept eating and talking about how much fun they had today. Then he noticed something. - "Dude, Pen! What are you drinking!" - asked alarmed. Getting him inside this place was one thing but drinking was way out limits.

"Don't worry Marshall It's just juice!" said Davey.

Marshall just sighed in relief; if Pen got drunk his mother would skin him. Davey noticed how tense Marshall was, although this was his idea he wasn't having much fun.

"Marshall, relax! Why don't you just go to the bar and drink something! Why don't you try the Appletini or this one called Flaming Moe!" - Davey showed him his drink, it was a purple beverage and it was in flames.

"Umm…Davey…how many drinks have  you had?" - He was concerned about what would happen if he got the Ice Prince drunk in a place like this. Davey saw the look Marshall gave him and chuckled a little.

"Don't worry! It would take a lot more for me to get drunk! So relax and have fun! This was your idea after all"-

Marshall thought about what Davey said and nodded. What was he worrying about? He was Marshall Lee Abadeer! High class demon from the Nightosphere! There was nothing to worry about! "You're right Davey! I shouldn't worry so much! Thanks for the advice! Now I'll go for something to drink" -

As he was about to leave the table Davey said. "Good after that we could hit the dance floor and dance with some of those cute ladies!" -  That stopped Marshall for a second and turn around to face Davey.

"Yeah sure… but Davey… try to lay low. I'm not saying to not have fun. Just try to not stand out too much!" - He said he wasn't going to worry but it was better be safe than sorry.

"Don't worry Marshall! Just go! Drink up and have fun!"- Marshall just turned around and went to the bar. A small part of him found ironic that the Ice Prince just told him to have fun. As Marshall walked away, Davey looked at him and whispered -"Not to stand out? I don't think I can do that! It's my bachelor party after all!"- He had lied earlier about not getting drunk that easily, he was already a tiny bit tipsy and his inhibitions were lowered.

"Wow! Why do I feel strange all of the sudden?" - Asked Pen out loud to himself. He was the only one on the table besides Davey, Bartram and NEPTR went dancing while Pen finished his third glass of juice. It seemed that the juice had a little bit of alcohol.

"You will be fine just rest for a bit!" Davey stand up from his seat and was planning to tell Marshall about Pen being slightly drunk when suddenly and announcement was made.

"Tonight is open Microphone Night! So if anyone wants to show off their singing skills this is your change!"

Now that was something Davey really liked. The last time he tried to show his karaoke skills, he was interrupted by Pen before he could sing with the Princesses a couple of months ago. But now it was his time to shine!

In an instant he was on stage ready to show the world what Davey Johnson could do.

Meanwhile Marshall was at the bar waiting for his drink. He was talking with a ghost girl next to him. He wasn't really interested but it was better than waiting in complete silence. - "I may look young but I'm 500 years old" - explained Marshall.

"Oooh, that is so cool! I don't even remember my own age but I have been around for some time"

"Here's your drink sir!" - said the bartender and gave a red colored beverage to Marshall.

"Thanks! So as I was saying…" - his conversation was cut short by surprise. On stage was none other than Davey! "What the… I told him not to do this kind of thing!" – He was so upset that he didn't notice he had spilled his drink.

"Marshall what happened?" asked the ghost girl who then turned around and look to where the teen was staring at. On the stage was a blue skinned long white haired man preparing to sing.

On the stage Davey was nervous but excited at the same time. He wasn't sure if they would like the song but it didn't matter to him. He was having fun.

The music started and Davey began moving this the tune. Not only he was going to sing, he was going to dance too. That's why he requested a wireless microphone.

_**Open up your eyes take a look at me** _   
_**If the picture fits in your memory**_   
_**I've been dreamin by the rhythm like the beat of a heart** _   
_**And i won't stop until I start to stand out…to stand out.** _

Marshall's eye began twitching in annoyance. Not only he didn't listen to him when he told him not to stand out and now he was singing a song with lyrics about standing out.

The rest of the people also began paying attention to the dancing blue man, usually all those who got up and sang were terrible, but his guy didn't sound half bad. Even Bartram and NEPTR stopped what they were doing to look at Davey. "Bigger Brother is singing?" asked NEPTER not believing his eyes.

_**Some people settle for the typical thing** _   
_**Livin' all their lives waitin' in the wings**_   
_**It ain't a question of 'if', just a matter of time** _   
_**Before I move to the front of the line** _

Now everyone on the club was paying attention to Davey. He was pretty good. The Party bears were the first to start dancing but slowly everyone else was joining in. Even Pen who had slightly recovered from his sudden dizziness approached the dance floor.

_**And once you're watchin' ev'ry move that I make  
Ya gotta believe that I got what it takes** _

_**To stand out** _  
_**Above the crowd** _  
_**Even if I gotta shout out loud** _  
_**'Til mine is the only face you see** _  
_**Gonna stand out 'til you notice me** _

Everyone in the club was dancing and singing along except from one girl who remained sitting. It was a cute girl with leaf hair and pale green skin; she was dressed in a one piece dark dress. Although see didn't join the others in dancing, she was paying attention to Davey who in turn noticed her too. When they eyes met for a slight second Davey gave her a playful smile.

He jumped down the stage and walked straight to her and kept singing.

_**If could make you stop and take a look at me instead of just  
Walkin' by** _

Now he was standing right in front of her. He bow a little and brought his face closer to hers. She hided it very well but Davey noticed the small blush on her face.

_**There's nothin' that I wouldn't do** _   
_**if it was gettin' you to notice** _   
_**I'm alive** _

His face was really close to hers, almost as if he was going to steal a kiss, but instead he stood upright once more and walked once more to the stage.

_**All I need is half a chance, a second thought, a second glance'll prove** _   
_**I got whatever it takes**_   
_**It's a piece of cake** _

He jumped back on stage and prepared for the final part, and everyone else was trying to copy his moves.

_**To stand out** _   
_**Above the crowd** _   
_**Even if I gotta shout out loud** _   
_**'Til mine is the only face you see** _   
_**Gonna stand out** _

_**Stand out, hey** _   
_**Stand out! (Yeah, yeah, yeah!)** _   
_**Stand out!** _   
_**'Til mine's the only face you see** _   
_**Gonna stand out** _   
_**'Til you notice me.** _

After the song ended the whole place exploded in cheers for Davey who was still posing. This was awesome, he felt like he was in cloud nine.

"Oh my glob! How's that guy?"- asked fervently one of the many single girls present. He was so cool and dreamy.

"That one over there is my Bigger Brother!" - answered NEPTR still amazed by his bigger brother's skills.

"Really? And are you like him?" - asked another girl.

"Well, He help me become what I'm now!" - Then more and more girls began surrounding NEPTR and Bartram trying to ask more and more questions.

"I can't believe it… I can't fricking believe it!" - said Marshall after a momentary state of utter shock. Not only did Davey ignore his suggestion, he ended up scoring big time! He was now dancing with the leaf haired girl from earlier. He couldn't believe he lived in a world where the Ice Prince was better than him at picking up girls.

He was tempted for a second to go there and tell everybody who he really was, but stopped himself. No matter how he felt about the situation, this was his last big party before marrying tomorrow. Also he had never seen the guy so happy before, he was less and less Ice Prince and becoming more and more into Davey Johnson. Maybe he had always being like that but nobody ever gave him a chance before.

Now he was feeling sad for the guy. He needed a drink and he spit his last one before even drinking a sip. "Bartender, what's your strongest drink?" he needed something strong right now.

"Our strongest drink isn't even in the menu. It's called The Mississippi Queen and I wouldn't recommend it, sir" - Marshall wasn't worried; with his demonic physiology the effects of the drink would be severely lowered.

"Give me one of those!" - and even if by a miracle he got drunk he could still count on Pen to take care of everything. What Marshall ignored was that at that exact moment Pen was drinking more and more juice laced with alcohol.

"One Mississippi Queen coming up. But I had to warn you sir that we shall not be held responsible by anything that happens to you for drinking the Queen!" - Marshall just rolled his eyes in annoyance

"Yeah, yeah whatever! Give me the stuff already!" - After 5 minutes of waiting, he drink was ready, it has a strange red spectral aura around it but Marshall paid little attention to it. He just wanted a drink. After drinking the whole glass in on go he brought doing the empty glass disappointed. - "This is your strongest drink, I didn't even felt it!"

"This Mississippi Queen is more like Mississippi Lame!"

The Bartender just shook his head disapprovingly. "Just give it time…time…time…..time….time…..time…." He kept repeating the same word over and over again. Then his face melted off.

"Huh?" - what just happened thought Marshall. Then everything around him started flashing in red lights, everything began to distort into strange shapes. And all movements change between super slow motion and fast forward. - "What is going on?" - asked Marshall, he didn't know where he was or where he was going, heck, was he moving at all? What was motion and stillness? What was up and down? Left and right? What was reality and what was a dream? He didn't know. All he could distinguish was a song in the background that sounded like….

**Mississippi Queen!**

While Marshall was on his Mississippi stupor and Pen was getting drunker and drunker. No one noticed Davey walking out his the leaf haired girl and walked by to a near motel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About the song… If you recognized it, well congrats! You have seen one of my favorite movies. I know it is a little dated but heck I still like it after all these years.
> 
> Needless to say, the song doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Disney. 
> 
> Also this chapter had a TON of references. Can you spot them all?


End file.
